Cabbage Rolls

This may be cheating, but we just tried a new recipe that I got from allrecipes.com for cabbage rolls. We've been trying some new meals and this one was pretty good. It was nice to put it in the crockpot and just have it ready at dinner time. We had it with a green salad. (I would double the sauce recipe)

Microwaved Cocoa Cake

This one's just a quicky, and unfortunately I just devoured the evidence so there's nothing left to photograph. I read about this on the internet a while back and tried it...It's not the finest chocolate cake I've ever had, but it might help you kill twenty minutes with the kids. I (unsurprisingly) replaced the egg in mine with 1 T ground flax.

2 packets hot cocoa mix

2 T flour

1 egg

1 T vegetable oil

splash of water

Mix all in microwave safe mug. Nuke on high for 2 minutes. Run a knife around the edge and it should just pop out.

edit: Psyche! I totally still have a photo from when I made it before. Apologies for the blurriness.

Coconut Cocoa

Today is atrocious in Chicago. We've got a foot of snow (it's still falling in heavy persistent clumps) and sub-zero temperatures. So I thought it would be a good day to make a cup of this. In my continuing battle against milk I thought I would try hot cocoa with coconut milk. Low and behold it's delicious—even to me, someone who isn't totally into coconut. The secret is cutting the coconut milk with something. Both times I've used water at about 1:1. If you're even less excited about the coconut you could do 1:2. For the 'dry' I used cocoa powder and sugar once, and regular cocoa mix. Both are good.

½ c coconut milk

½ c water (milk, etc...)

2 T cocoa powder

2 T sugar

½ dash cinnamon

Heat liquid, add dry. Mix.

p.s. I was going to add an actual photo, but it looks just like regular cocoa; brown liquid.

Lemon Curd

I bought a bunch of lemons the other day and didn't end of needing them for what I had planned on so I made this instead. It is so easy to make. One recipe filled 2 half-pint canning jars.

Lemon Curd
3/4 C freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
3/4 C sugar
3 eggs
1/2 C unsalted butter

Directions:In a saucepan, combine all ingredients and cook over medium-low heat*. Cook 6-10 minutes, and occasionally whisk until thick enough to hold marks from the whisk (about the consistency of pudding.) Store in the refrigerator. *If the heat is turned up too high, the eggs will curdle.

Minestrone Soup

This is what we had for dinner tonight and everyone liked it. I didn't use celery (just because I didn't have any) and threw in some summer squash also. It would be great in the summer (for most locales) when you can get all the produce fresh at the farmers market.

Minestrone Soup
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
I large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, miced
8 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
28 oz can of tomato sauce (or crushed tomato's)
2 celery stalks, diced
2 med-sized carrots, sliced
2 potato's, cut into cubes
2 med-sized zucchini, diced
1/2 C fresh parsley, chopped (or you can use 1 Tbsp dried)
1 C small pasta (shells, macaroni, etc.,)
1/2 C Parmesan Cheese
2 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. ground celery seed
Dash of cayenne pepper
Directions:Over medium heat, in a sautee pan combine olive oil, onions & garlic and 3 Tbsp of stock. Sautee until onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the remaining stock, tomato sauce, celery, carrot, potato, zucchini and all spices (do not add pasta or parmesan). Mix and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer and simmer for 15 mintues. Bring to a boil again and add pasta & parmesan. Reduce to a simmer for an additional 20 minutes. I usually sprinkle some more parmesan on top once it's served. Enjoy!

Vegan Brownies

To continue my baking kick I thought I'd try brownies. It was my intention to use flax as an egg replacement. I googled "Vegan Brownies" in hopes of finding a recipe with flax, but I couldn't find one. Apparently eggs (though included in lots of brownie mixes in powdered form) are actually not a necessity for brownies after-all. Plus, since there are no eggs, you can make them really gooey without fear. The final reason I like the recipe so much is because it's all (besides the chocolate) pantry staples, and everyone else probablly has a Sam's bag of chocolate chips anyway.

2 c. Flour
2 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Cocoa
1 t. Baking Powder
1 t. Salt
1 c. Water
1 c. Vegtable Oil (or butter)
1 t. vanilla

Preheat 350. Mix all. Pour into 9x13" pan. Bake 45 minutes.

Tyler's Biscotti

I don't know why but I've had a real hankering for biscotti lately. I figured it was a pretty simple cookie, and could be veganized easily. I was right. After doing some research on the internet I cobbled together this recipe on my own. Much to my surprise they turned out great. And you should have everything you need on hand. Though there are a bunch of steps, making these is dirt simple. A few notes: Instead of eggs in this recipe I used ground flax seed and water at a ratio of 1:3 teaspoons per egg replaced. It's a little nutty and works great in this recipe, but I'm sure eggs will do nicely too. Omitted from the ingredient list and directions are flavoring agents. I used dried apricots and slivered almonds—a handful of each. Anything could be good (chocolate chips and marshmallows, say), kneed it in when the dough is finished.

1 c. sugar

2 c. flour

2 t. baking soda

½ c. butter softened

1 t. vanilla

½ t. almond extract (optional)

2 eggs

½ c. water (as needed)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients, add wet, blend. Add water as needed; dough should be very thick. Butter and flour cookie sheet. Form into two long flat loaves, bake for 25 minutes. Take out and let cool on rack. With good serrated knife cut into 1" wide biscotti. Lower oven to 300, bake for additional 20 minutes.