Banana-Nut Cookies for Humans and Dogs

This recipe comes from the Vegan Dog Book. I was delighted to find that this recipe, in addition to being both dog and human-safe, is originally gluten-free!

Cody and Chelsea approve this recipe!

 This is half of the original recipe, and still made probably two hundred small treats (for training), so scale appropriately. Also be careful with ingredients for dogs - the book has a whole section on what you should and should not feed you dogs, and I wouldn't add anything to these without making absolutely sure that your dog can eat it.

Ingredients:
2 small bananas, very ripe
1/4 c natural peanut butter (make sure there is NOTHING but peanuts and peanut oil if you plan on feeding these to dogs - no added sugar or salt or anything)
1/8 c canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 c oat flour
Apple (optional)

Directions:
1)Preheat the oven to 325. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2) Mash the bananas well with a fork. Add the peanut butter, oil and vanilla and mix well.
3) Add the baking powder and oat flour to the banana mixture and combine well.
4) Take small pieces of dough (I used maybe 1/4 to 1/2 tsp for training treats) and put them on a cookie sheet. Alternatively you can roll out the dough and cut them into fun shapes with cookie cutters - I suggest larger cookies for people.
5) Bake the cookies  for 8-10 minutes. I topped the people cookies with chocolate.
6) Store the cookies in the fridge for up to 7 days. You can also store them in the freezer if you know you won't use that many treats in 7 days.

Cornbread

I have no idea where my mom got this corn bread recipe, but it's been my favorite since I first tried it. It's very simple, but I must commend whoever first thought to use maple syrup as the sweetener. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2/3 c maple syrup (my mom likes less, so 1/2 c)
1/3 c canola oil
1 c nondairy milk
1 c flour (I'd recommend sorghum or oat flour; you could add some rice or quinoa flour too)
1 c fine cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a 9x9" glass pan.
2) Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl. Add the dry ingredients and combine.
3) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes. When it passes the toothpick test it's probably still a bit moist, so you might leave it in a bit longer if you want it drier.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzels

Last Christmas my family and I drove from Chicago to Florida. We stopped at a grocery store in Georgia and I was shocked to find a whole vegan/gluten free/natural foods section, and it was at this store that I discovered Glutino pretzels. Vegan, gluten-free, and totally delicious! And when I recently found the same pretzels at Whole Foods, I decided to make a vegan version of their chocolate-covered pretzels, but better, because they have peanut butter!

Ingredients: 

2-4 c. chocolate chips (depending on how many you use)

1 bag Glutino pretzels

1/2 c peanut butter

2 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

1) Pick out the whole pretzels out of the bag. You won't use all of them, but it's good to have a bowl of whole ones. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. You'll want a little assembly line of pretzels to chocolate to cookie sheet.

2) Melt a cup of chocolate chips in a double boiler - get a metal bowl that fits nicely in a saucepan, fill the saucepan partly with water and set the whole contraption on the stove and heat it. Mix the chocolate occasionally as it's melting.

3) Drop the pretzels one at a time into the chocolate. Move them around with a fork to get them coated in the chocolate. I usually lift the coated pretzel up and shake it to get the extra chocolate off, then put the pretzel on the cookie sheet.

 4) Once you have all of your chocolate pretzels, put the peanut butter and coconut oil in a small bowl and melt it in the microwave. Stir, and add in the powdered sugar. Drizzle the mixture over the pretzels while still warm, using either a fork or a ziplock bag with a small hole cut in the corner.

So pretty! Each pretzel is about 40 calories, give or take a few depending on how thick your chocolate coating is. And now that you know how to make chocolate-covered things, you might want to try peanut butter patties or peppermint patties.

Hummus - the secret!

Every time I tried to make hummus, it never met my expectations. So I plugged into The Google and came up with some very simple advice that really works! It's not the ingredients so much as the process that give you the perfect consistency. So here is my new recipe for amazing hummus!

Hummus
2 cans chickpeas

1/4 c lemon juice*
1/2 c tahini*
1/4 c water
1 1/2t extra virgin olive oil
1t garlic

*These ingredients are tricky, because they make the taste of the hummus. Fresh lemon juice is best, but bottled is fine in a pinch. The tahini is also super important - some tahini is better than others, but the best advice I can give is to try several brands until you find one you like.

Directions:

1) Drain and rinse the two cans of chickpeas. Put them in a microwave-safe container (you could also do this on the stove) and cover them with water.
2) Microwave the chickpeas for 3 minutes, until they're nice and hot.
3) Drain the chickpeas again. Put them back in the same container, this time with ice water. Let them sit for a few minutes.
4) While watching TV or listening to music, even better if you have a friend to help, carefully pinch the skins of each chickpea. It's a pain in the but, but totally worth it for smooth, delicious hummus.
5) In a  decent blender or food processor, blend the tahini, lemon juice, and water until they form a tahini cream. This is the key - the difference between hummus and chickpea mash is that you make a tahini cream and add the chickpeas to that, not adding tahini to mashed chickpeas.
6) Add the olive oil to the tahini cream and blend to mix.
7) Add the chickpeas one small handful at a time until you get the right taste, adding water if the hummus is too thick. The hummus should be pale, not yellow (unless you like more chickpeas, in which case go for it!)
8) Blend in the garlic. Keep blending the hummus, adding water if needed, for several minutes in order to get the perfect, smooth consistency.
9) I'd recommend refrigerating the hummus overnight, but knowing how addictive it is, you may end up digging in. You may want to mix in extra flavorings, such as roasted garlic or roasted red pepper, but plain hummus is also amazing.

Pomegranate White Chip Cookies

It's my birthday! So, as a birthday present to everyone, here is one of the first gluten-free cookie recopies I came up with, and also one of my favorites. They're pretty healthy what with quinoa and flaxseed meal, and the coconut flour adds a delicate sweet flavor. These are great for winter when pomegranates are ripest.

Ingredients:
Flour mix (this makes about 4c, and you only need 3; you could always do a quadruple batch to make up the difference!)
1 c brown rice flour
1/2 c almond flour
1/2 c hazelnut flour
1/2 c quinoa flour
1/2 c coconut flour
1/4 c flaxseed meal
1/2 c oat flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Other ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp EnerG egg replacer
6 tbsp warm water

Add-ins:
1 pomegranate's worth of arils
1 recipe white chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2) Mix all the flours together in a big bowl - as I said, you'll have too much flour, but I'm too lazy to scale it down.
3) Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Process the egg replacer and warm water in a food processor until foamy, then add to the butter mixture.
4) Add 3 c of the flour mix to the butter, and combine.
5) Scoop a level tbsp of dough into your hand, and press several pieces of white chocolate and five to six pomegranate arils into the ball and fold to combine. This is labor-intensive, but ensures that each cookie has both the mix-ins, and that the cookies don't turn purple from pomegranate juice. Flatten the ball out to about 2in diameter.
6) Bake each batch for 12 minutes, then let them cool for several minutes before transferring them off the cookie sheet. I got a rhythm going where I'd let them cool for about 6 minutes, then make the next batch, so by the time I had a full cookie sheet the one in the oven was done baking. Again, it's labor intensive, but so worth it.

White Chocolate Chips

For all you vegans out there that have felt deprived of white chocolate, this post is for you! The ingredients are a bit pricey, but the actual process is really easy - you only need a few bowls and a microwave. You do have to move sort of quickly once the cocoa butter is melted, but it's not that bad. It's a good idea to make a big batch and store them in the fridge. Try them in chocolate cookies, or pomegranate white chip cookies.

Ingredients:

1/4 c and 1 tbsp powdered sugar
1tsp soymilk powder (not protein powder)
pinch salt
1/3 c cocoa butter (try looking for food-grade butter with hand lotions and body cream)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1) Prepare a flat surface for your chocolate chips. I like to line a cookie sheet or plate with parchment paper, but you could easily just pipe them onto a pan or plate, you'll just have to do a bit more cleanup at the end.
2) Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3) Melt the cocoa butter in a double boiler, or in the microwave. Be careful - it gets very hot.

4) Add the vanilla, and mix the dry ingredients into the melted cocoa butter.

5) Once combined, quickly scoop the chocolate into a ziplock bag or frosting bag. Cut off a small hole in the corner.
6) Quickly and confidently pipe out chocolate-chip sized dollups onto your surface; size depends on your preference, but bigger chips are faster.

7) Pop your chocolate chips in the freezer for about 10 minutes, then take them out and put them in a sealed container. They'll keep for several weeks in the fridge.

Carrot Rosemary Bisque

This soup idea comes from my cafeteria. They make carrot dill, carrot rosemary, carrot thyme, and so on. If you need a healthy dose of beta-carotene, this is the way to go!

Carrot Rosemary Bisque:

1/4 small onion
2/3 small red pepper
2T olive oil
3c vegetable broth
2lbs carrots
3 sprigs rosemary
2 bay leaves

Directions:
1) Chop all the veggies. I'd chop the rosemary, too; you can try and cook the springs and remove them later, but all the little leaves will fall off and end up in your soup anyways, so I think it's best to chop them now.
2) Sauté the onion and red pepper in your pot for 5-10 minutes until the onions are translucent. 
3) Add the carrots and the vegetable broth - the broth should just cover all the vegetables. Add the rosemary and bay leaves. 
4) Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 40 minutes, stirring and checking to see if the carrots are done every so often.
5) Let the soup cool considerable, then blend. If you have a fancy immersion blender use that, otherwise blend it in parts in a blender (but make sure it's not too hot, and hold the top - steam can cause it to pop off).