Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

I find that most cookie recipes follow the exact same set of instructions and this one is no different. I suppose that’s why cookies are so common; They’re incredibly easy to make. Well, that and they’re delicious.

Recipe

• ½ cup margarine
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 “egg” (maybe half a banana, but I haven’t tried yet)
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 cups flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt

1. Mix the wet ingredients together.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in.
3. Scoop out little discs onto a cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 350°F for about 9 minutes.
5. Let cool (and perhaps sprinkle with cinnamon).

Toasted pumpkin seeds

I suppose this recipe is one of those seasonal things. I tend to over-indulge in these right around Halloween and find myself sick of them within a few days. Still, they’re tasty in moderation and stuffed full of tradition.

Recipe

• 1 batch of pumpkin seeds from a freshly carved pumpkin
• Some olive oil
• Some salt

1. Mix the ingredients in a bowl so that the seeds are well covered.
2. Spread the mix onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 10 minutes.
3. Do your best to flip them over and bake until they’re starting to look dry.
4. Set aside and let cool until you can eat them without hurting yourself.

Cajun sweet potato fries

I got this recipe out of La Dolce Vegan, which is probably one of my favourite cookbooks. It’s part of a series filled with a nice variety of recipes. This one here is simple and tasty. Double the Cajun spice as a single tablespoon is never enough. For convenience, just make a large batch and set it aside for recipes like this.

Recipe

• 1 large sweet potato
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cajun spice
  • 24 parts paprika
  • 12 parts thyme
  • 12 parts oregano
  • 4 parts garlic powder
  • 4 parts salt
  • 1 part black pepper
  • 1 part cayenne pepper

1. Cut the sweet potato into wedges and mix with the rest of the ingredients until well coated.
2. Spread out evenly on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 10 minutes.
3. Flip the fries and bake for another 10 minutes or until sufficiently crispy.

Simple rice bowl

A while back there was a restaurant in Toronto called Juice For Life. It’s since turned into Fresh, but the recipes are still mostly the same. Well, their first cookbook has a fairly simple recipe in it that’s a decent stand-by when nothing complicated is called for.

Recipe

• 4 cups cooked rice
• 1 batch tahini sauce
• 2 tsp. tamari
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped (or red onion)
• 1 lemon, cut in wedges (or any other garnish, like paprika and cayenne)

Just put a couple tablespoons of the tahini sauce on the rice along with the tamari. Garnish as you’d like and eat. Fairly simple and easy to play around with.

Black bean quesadillas with tahini sauce

Okay this one’s a three-parter, but it’s well worth the effort. All told, they’re actually pretty easy to make. Think of them as dinner crêpes with a little less effort.

Black bean filling

• 6 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 4 cups canned black beans

1. Cook the onions and garlic in the oil for 5 minutes or so.
2. Add in everything except the black beans and simmer for another 5 minutes.
3. Mash the black beans and add them in.
4. Let it sit for a minutes.

Tahini Sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup chopped parsley (or onion sprouts)
• ½ tsp. sea salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ⅔ cup water
• ½ cup tahini

1. Chop it all up fine.
2. Mix it all together or blend if you don’t like chunks.

Quesadillas

1. Put a tortilla on a heated frying pan with oil.
2. Spread some black bean filling on half the tortilla.
3. Fold the tortilla in half and fry it until golden crispy on both sides.
4. Cut it into 4 slices and serve with drizzled tahini.

Vínarterta

This Icelandic recipe is a prune-based layer cake of awesome. I learned how to make it with icing, but found that it’s simpler and tastier without. Go ahead and double the almond extract and the cardamom if you enjoy these flavours. It’s twice as tasty that way.

Batter

• ¾ cup “butter”
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 “eggs” (banana or powdered replacer works fine here)
• 1 tsp. ground cardamom
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tbsp. water
• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder

Filling

• 1½ lbs prunes
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Method

1. Turn the batter into dough. Cream the “butter” and sugar, add in the “eggs”, then the cardamom, vanilla, almond and water. Once it’s all beaten together, add in the flour and baking powder (pre-sifted). Add the “eggs” a bit at a time, beating after each addition.
2. Make the cake layers Roll out the dough on a floured surface and make 10 circles wide and thin. Bake each at 375°F for 10-15 minutes or until golden.
3. Cook the filling Cover prunes with water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil until they’re soft. Drain the prunes, remove the pits and puree them in a blender (mashing’ll work too). Put the prunes back in the saucepan and the remaining filling ingredients. Boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Let it cool until you can touch it.
4. Combine into 2 cakes. Spread an equal amount of filling on each of 4 layers, then stack 5 layers to make a cake, using one of the unfilled layers as the top layer. Repeat with the other cake. Cover them with waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 days before cutting.

Cardamom Tea

This one’s easy to make.

• A couple generous pinches of peppermint tea leaves
• A couple cups of boiling water
• ½ tsp. crushed cardamom
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Put them all together as you’d expect with tea and let it steep for a couple minutes at least. It’s good with milk and sugar as you’d expect.

Mint chocolate fudge

I have accomplished what I once thought was only a myth: I have successfully created vegan fudge. ‘Course, I had a little help from my newest cookbook, La Dolce Vegan.

• 1¼ cups sugar
• ⅓ cup “milk”
• 2 tbsp margarine
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup chocolate chips
• 1 tsp mint extract

Lightly oil a 9-inch loaf pan and set aside. In a medium pot on high heat, stir together the sugar and “milk” until it reaches a boil. Stop stirring and allow to reach 235°F (115°C) then remove from heat. Add the margarine, salt, chocolate chips and mint extract. Stir together vigourously until smooth. Pour into loaf pan and refrigerate for at least an hour before removing from loaf pan and cutting into chunks.