Coconut Chickpea Curry

This is delicious! Even my boyfriend who isn't a huge fan of Indian food

1 large or 2 small yellow onions
1-2 T canola oil

2 tsp garlic powder
1 T Tandoori spice blend (http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2012/09/whole-roasted-tandoori-cauliflower-with-mint-chutney/)
Salt to taste (about 1/2 - 1 tsp)
Cayenne to taste
Dash of smoked paprika

1 large tomato (garden-fresh or farmers' market preferred!)
1 cans chickpeas
1 can lite coconut milk
1 tsp honey

Saute onions in canola oil until tender and translucent. Add garlic, tandoori spice, salt, and chickpeas. Stir until chickpeas are covered and cooked slightly. Add tomato and stir again until all ingredients are well connected. Add coconut milk and honey and simmer over low heat for an hour, until all ingredients are tender and flavors are absorbed.

Add the spinach and stir over low heat until wilted. Serve immediately over brown rice. It's also great as leftovers, since the flavors have more time to combine and intensify.

Decadent Frozen Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt adds a delicious tartness and extra creaminess to this simple but decadent ice cream recipe.

 

Ingredients

3/4 c cream
1 c plain greek yogurt (I use 2% or 0% fat)
1/2 c milk (low-fat or non-dairy is fine)
1/3-1/2 c sugar, depending on taste
1 tsp vanilla or other flavor extract of your choice (I have rum extract and almond flavor on my list to try)

Chocolate ganache for topping (combine 1 part chocolate and 1 part cream, whisked together over the low heat until smooth and creamy)

Preparation

Whisk together all ingredients. Chill overnight and freeze in an ice cream maker. Voila--delicious!

Optional flavor boost: For even more vanilla flavor, you may want to scald the cream first with a 1/2 vanilla bean. You can also thicken the cream and milk with cornstarch over the low-medium heat before blending with other ingredients. If you do either of these things, be sure to chill the ice cream mixture long enough to get the mixture very cold (at least 12 hours) before attempting to freeze it.

Three-Layer Oatmeal Fudge Brownies

These brownies are delicious (and also dangerously addictive!). Whenever I'm asked to bake brownies for an event, these are the ones I make. The recipe is adapted from the Junior League Cookbook.

Ingredients:

Oatmeal Layer

½ cup                    all-purpose flour

1 cup                     rolled oats

½ cup                    packed brown sugar

8 tablespoons    regular salted butter (1 stick), melted

Brownie Layer

7 T          butter

2 oz        unsweetened chocolate

2              eggs

2/3 c      sugar

¼ t          salt (or to taste…I sometimes leave it out)

2 t           vanilla extract

¾ c          all-purpose flour (can also experiment with spelt or whole wheat pastry flour)

Icing

1 ¾ c      powdered sugar

4 T          butter, softened

2 T          milk, cream, or half and half

1 t           vanilla extract

To make:

For the oatmeal layer: Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Mix flour, sugar, oats, and brown sugar. Add melted butter and stir until well incorporated. Press mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. (Remember this layer will be cooked again, so it should not be completely “done” when you take it out.) Prepare brownie layer while oatmeal layer is baking.

For the brownie layer: Melt the butter and chocolate together over low heat or in a microwave and cool. Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture and flour. Spread brownie mixture over the baked oatmeal layer and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan.

Combine the sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy. Ice the brownies after they have cooled.

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Buttercream

These are absolutely delicious. This makes a small recipe (about 18 small cookies), which is perfect for me. You can leave out the tea, and you'll have a great base for any type of shortbread cookie. Next time, I think I might try lavender shortbread...yum!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (preferably at room temperature)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour (I used a mixture of whole wheat pastry and all-purpose)
1 tablespoon of Earl Grey tea, finely ground
a couple pinches of salt (to taste

For the frosting: I made a buttercream out of butter and powdered sugar. Buttercream is so standard to me that I don't even use a recipe anymore. But start with 1/4 c butter, add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 T lemon juice, and then add powdered sugar until the frosting is sweet enough and the proper texture.

Instructions:

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and blend again. Mix the flour, tea, and salt together in a bowl, then blend into the butter mixture at low speed. Be careful not to over-mix, or you'll end up with tough and dense shortbread.

Chill dough in fridge for at least a half-hour. Slice log into disks of 1/4-inch thickness and bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes, until edges are just beginning to brown. (I always bake my cookies on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, so you may need to grease the cookie sheet if you don't use parchment.) Baking time will depend on how large you decided to cut your cookies, so keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't overbake. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for up to 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Once the cookies are completely cool, mix the frosting and spread over each cookie. You can also frost them with lemon buttercream instead, which I think I'll try next time!

Homemade Deodorant

Is conventional deodorant toxic? Does it promote breast cancer? Depends on which "expert" you ask. I'm guessing that the connection to breast cancer is a bit less clear-cut than people make it out to be, but I found gelatin listed as one of the ingredients in my latest conventional deodorant purchase. That simply goes against my values as a vegetarian. In addition, there are tons of ingredients on that label that I can't pronounce, and even more whose internal effects I'd rather not look up on the Environmental Working Group's cosmetics ingredients database. I tried Tom's of Maine deodorant once upon a time, but it seemed to make me sweat more, rather than less, and didn't do much to cover up the smell. So, I've decided to make my own.

Here's my adaptation to this recipe I found online:

Deodorant Paste (paraben-free, aluminum-free)

1/4 c cornstarch
1/4 c baking soda
3 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
1 tsp olive oil (up to 1 tablespoon, depending on how pasty or smooth you want your final product to be)
Essential oils of your choice to scent it (I did 3 drops peppermint, 3 drops spearmint, and 3 drops rosemary)

Mix all ingredients together with a spoon, adding the essential oils after everything else is well incorporated. If necessary, mix together with your hands to get it as smooth as possible. Add more olive oil if it ends up too pasty for you. Remember, the olive oil will just help soothe and smooth your much neglected underarm skin!

Here are some photos of the finished product. I chose to store my in an 8-oz glass jar that used to hold Ginger People brand minced ginger (which I am addicted to, by the way...):

Now, the question is: does it work? So far, so good (I used it today). It's definitely not something I want to use when wearing a little black dress to a cocktail party, but it seems to keep me dry in a t-shirt during the day-to-day shuffle. And not covering my armpits with toxins every day? I think that's definitely worth a little white mark every now and then.

Basic Seitan Recipe

Dry Ingredients:

3 c vital wheat gluten

¼ nutritional yeast

herbs/spices of choice (I use garlic and onion powder, oregano and basil, and crushed red pepper)

Optional for extra texture: ¼- ½ c finely minced vegetables

chickpea flour to stiffen batter as needed

Wet Ingredients:

2 c vegetable broth (add some salt or 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce if you use low sodium broth)

2 T unsweetened ketchup or tomato paste

2 T apple cider vinegar or other acid

½ c canned white beans

 

Instructions:

Mash the beans in a bowl until they form a paste. Set aside. Mix together all dry ingredients (except the chickpea flour) in a large bowl (leave out the beans). Whisk the ketchup, broth, and vinegar together until well blended. Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and slowly pour the liquid into the well. Add the beans. Blend everything together with a fork until the mixture becomes difficult to stir, then knead it all for as long as you can stand to do so. The more you knead, the less doughy and more meat-like your seitan will be. You can adjust the liquid and gluten ratios as needed, based on how the dough feels, and based on your own preference for seitan texture.

Once kneaded, form the dough into logs or loaves of the desired size, and wrap tightly with foil (2 layers is sometimes best—the seitan will expand when heated and needs to be tightly confined to maintain its shape). Bake at 350 for 40 minutes to one hour, until the loaves are firm to touch but still spring back slightly when you press on them. Let cool on a cooling rack, then remove from foil and serve.

Here's a picture of the finished product. Not the most glamorous thing, I know, but it's good protein, a good source of B12 from the nutritional yeast, and it's much cheaper than seitan from Whole Foods!

 Note: I shaped this one into a log, but I also shape it into a loaf for easy lunchmeat slices. The little red specks are red kidney beans (which I used because I ran out of white beans).

My Favorite Recipe Links

These are a few of the recipes I've found around the internet that are delicious exactly as they are--wouldn't change a thing!

Raspberry Coconut Macaroons: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/03/raspberry-coconut-macaroons/


Tandoori Spice Blend: http://mynewroots.org/site/2012/09/whole-roasted-tandoori-cauliflower-with-mint-chutney/

Weekend Pancakes: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Whole-Wheat-Oatmeal-Pancakes-241530 

Pesto: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/five-herb-pesto-recipe.html

Savory Zucchini-Ricotta Cheesecake: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/zucchini-ricotta-cheesecake-recipe.html

St. Patty's Day Dessert (Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes): http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/14/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/