Mexican No Bake Cookies

Have you ever had Mexican Hot Chocolate?  This delicious variation on no bake cookies is a great way to spice up any party!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup *vanilla soy milk
1/4 butter/margarine
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups brown sugar
7 TBS cocoa powder
**1 tsp. ground cloves
**2 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups oats

Directions: Melt butter/margarine and heat milk at same time on medium/low.  Stir in peanut butter and brown sugar until smooth.  Add cocoa powder and spices.  Again, keep on the heat and keep stirring until smooth.   Add the oats and blend until chocolate mixture evenly coats the oats.  Keep on the heat, occasionally stirring for two minutes.  Remove from heat and spoon cookies onto foil, wax paper, or a chilled plate.  Refrigerate until firm.  You should be able to handle the cookies easily without getting your fingers covered in chocolate goo.

*You may use 2/3 cup dairy milk and 2 TBS real vanilla instead of the vanilla soy milk
** If you aren't sure if you will like spice in the chocolate cookie, try putting in only half of the recommended spices.

Egg Substitute

The runner-up for the best egg substitute when baking is...

1/4 dairy milk with 1 tsp baking powder.

And the winner  of the best egg substitute when baking is....

Drum roll please

1/4 cup soy milk with 1 tsp. baking powder!

So... after more than a year, here I am updating this blog.

A lot has happened in that year.  First of all, I learned that eggs will always make me sick regardless of the processing.  True story.  I ate eggs at my sister's house and she raises her own chickens -no antibiotics, bleach, hormones, or processing.  My stomach cramped up and I became absolutely miserable.  My skin broke out.  I now do not cook with eggs.

I was told by a couple men that they found my dietary restrictions odd.  One even had the courtesy to put it this way:  "I don't think that I'll ever have enough love you enough to endure what you go through.  You can't eat out, and you can't go to a water park."  Haha.  One, I can eat out with limited success.  Two, I never even suggested that I would expect someone else to live by the same restrictions that I do.  Pardon me if I don't eat stuff I'm allergic to in your presence.  You're certainly welcome to eat in front of me.  Seriously.  I don't care.  If I wanted it badly enough, then I'd live with the consequences.

In coming posts, I shall share what I have learned about egg substitutes.

Chewy Brownie Cookies

2/3 Cups Margarine

2/3 Cups Shortening

3 Cups Brown Sugar

2 TBS Water

2 Eggs

2 tsps. Vanilla

1 tsp. Salt

2/3 Cup Cocoa Powder

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

Cream margarine, shortening, and brown sugar.  Blend in cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda, water, and vanilla.  Add eggs.  Finally, add the whole wheat flour.  Use a spoon to drop onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

No Bake Cookies

1/2 Cup Butter/Margarine
1/2 Cup Milk (soy or dairy)
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 TBS Vanilla
3 TBS-1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 Cup Peanut Butter
3 Cups Oats

Melt butter and add vanilla.  When boiling, add milk, brown sugar, and cocoa powder.  Add peanut butter and mix until smooth. Begin to stir in oats, remove from heat and continue to stir until all of the chocolate peanut butter mixture and oats are blended.  Drop onto foil or wax paper and allow to cool.  Refridgerate for faster cooling.

Creamy Caramel Sauce

8 oz of Neuchatel (Light Cream Cheese)

1/4 Sweet Cream Butter

Milk (I used Skim)

2 or more cups of Brown Sugar

This recipe was inspired by my friend and former roommate, Caitlin Cameron.  She made the best frosting from cream cheese, using brown sugar so that I could also enjoy. 

On that note, start by heating the cream cheese in a saucepan.  Add the butter and stir until thoroughy blended.  Add milk until it is a runny yet creamy mixture.  Finally, stir in brown sugar until it thickens into a caramel consistency that you would put on a sundae.  Ta-da!  Pour warm over anything!  It comliments cake, cinnamon rolls, and almost anything.  I refrigerated my leftovers in a jar and dipped tart green apples in the caramel.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup *Evaporated Cane Juice Crystals

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2/3 Cup Margarine/ Butter

2/3 Cup Shortening

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

3 Cups Soy Flour
Chocolate Chips (White Chocolate Chips in picture at right)

*Can use white sugar.
In a large bowl, cream the sugars, margarine, and shortening.  Add everything but the flour, stirring well.  Finally, add the flour and then the chocolate chips.  Be sure not to mix too well or the cookies become too cakey.  Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 6-10 minutes until golden brown around the edges.  May be a bit crumbly due to the lack of gluten in the flour.

Additional Information: 1/4 cup of soy flour has almost 15% of your daily need of iron.  Soy flour is a great source of protein and fiber without having very much fat.  I decided to try this recipe in honor of my friends and their children that may have gluten intolerances.  My roommates that don't care for whole wheat variety treats loved these cookies.  Enjoy!

Cheesy Whole Wheat Drop Biscuits

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder

1 Tsp. Salt

1/2 Tsp. Garlic Powder

1 Cup Shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese

 1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

2/3 Cup *Milk mixed with 2Tsp. Lemon Juice

1/3 Cup Canola Oil

*Can use Buttermilk if desired.

Combine dry ingredients and shredded cheeses in one bowl.  In another bowl, combine the liquid ingredients.  Pour the liquids over the dry, stirring.  When completely moistened, drop onto a cookie sheet a couple of inches apart.  You may have to add milk if the mixture still seems dry after adding all of the dry ingredients.  bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown.

Pumpkin Challenge!

I started out making pumpkin bread.  It was one of those great evenings where I believed that the time was finally mine to bake something fun and relax.  I opened up the 30oz can of pumpkin, dumped it into the bowl.  "Hmm, maybe I should actually find a pumpkin bread recipe," I thought.  After a brief search, I just opened up one online.  Well, it only called for 15oz of pumpkin, so I began doubling.  As I was mixing, I decided that the bread recipe called for too much water.  I have a sense about these things nowadays.  Have you ever tried making something that would never seem to bake all of the way?  Yeah, my pumpkin bread was not going to do that.  The mass of ingredients grew to an enormous lump of goo.  What is this?  I glanced back at the recipe. The original made three loaves of pumpkin bread!  I had the beginnings of six loaves.  It was time to bail on the bread recipe as if from a sinking ship.  Quickly adding more sugar, a bit of this, and bit of that, I made pumpkin cookies!

This was about the time that I suddenly recognized I had a group meeting.  It started a half an hour ago.  Without a second look, I ran out the door with my laptop under my arm to the group meeting.  When I finished the meeting, I returned to the giant bowl full of pumpkin stuff. I baked I had baked pumpkin goods exploding from every surface in the kitchen.

The funny thing is, that as great as everything turned out, I have no idea what was in those cookies except that I started out with a 30oz can of pumpkin.  Our favorite was the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from the cupcake maker.  This is the great challenge of cooking: be daring!  Try something new!  Be adventurous!

Creamy Alfredo Sauce

2 TBS Butter
1/4 Cup Skim Milk
1/2 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1/4 Cup Shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar
2 TBS Parmesan cheese
1 TBS Dry Garlic
1 tsp Onion Salt
2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
2 TBS Flour or 1 TBS Cornstarch (I use whole wheat flour)

Melt the butter in a sauce pan on medium heat.  When melted, add milk and Ricotta cheese and stir until very smooth.  Add spices, onion salt, and Parmesan cheese.  Add the flour or cornstarch to thicken.  Finally, add in the cheddar and stir it in. I added broccoli and whole wheat spaghetti noodles to the sauce.

After adding the broccoli and noodles, I had about three 1 Cup servings of noodles, broccoli, and sauce.

Vegetarian Lasagna (bread pan size)

You can see the broccoli in the layers.

10-12 whole wheat lasagna noodles (or other noodle type like rice noodles...)
2 TBS canola oil
1 TBS evaporated cane juice crystals (sugar)

1 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce
8 oz ground-sausage-style soy protein
1 cup of frozen chopped broccoli
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 tsp. onion salt
1 tsp. dry garlic
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
2 TBS shredded extra sharp cheddar 

You can see whole wheat noodles and pale ricotta cheese.

Precook the lasagna noodles in a pot.  In a separate frying pan, add oil and sugar to the sausage, stirring and breaking the soy protein sausage apart.  When cooked, add spaghetti sauce, garlic, onion salt, and broccoli.  Drain the lasagna noodles when cooked to desired tenderness. In a bread pan, spread a layer of the sauce mixture. Place a single layer of precooked noodles on top of it.  Next, add a thin layer of ricotta cheese.build the layers until the lasagna is the desired height.  Spread a thin layer of sauce and top the final layer with the shredded cheeses.  Cover the top of the pan in foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.   Remove the foil and bake until the cheese on top is melted and crisped to the desired texture.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

2 cups of peeled shredded zuchini
1/2 cup of evaporated cane juice crystals (can use brown sugar instead)
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 TBS of vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3-4 cups of whole wheat flour

Mix everything but the flour in a large mixing bowl.  Be sure to mix the eggs enough to make the bread rise more.  Once this is thoroughly mixed, add the flour until the batter is thicker than cake batter but not as tough as cookie dough.  Seperate the dough into two standard bread pans (9x5 will work well or slightly smaller).  I used shortening to grease the pans so the bread would slide out easily.  Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 45minutes to an hour until a fork or toothpick comes out clean.  (The bread pictured above was baked for fifty minutes.)  When the bread is baked, remove from the bread pan and melt butter over the top.  Sprinkle sugar over the loaves. 

Why this bread is great:  The whole wheat and brown sugar combination make the zucchini less noticeable than typical zucchini breads! 

Get Some...

Here is a picture of my latest loaf of whole wheat bread.  I made this using the previous recipe on the blog.  Instead of honey or brown sugar though, I used organic evaporated cane juice crystals.  Costco was selling them, and I can't have white sugar, so I bought the bag!  The bread has turned out great and I find that some recipes are better with the crystals instead of brown sugar, but some are not.  Brownies are definitely better with brown sugar (consensus in my apartment.)

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potatoes offer a better spectrum of nutrition than other common types of potatoes.  Sweet Potatoes even have Vitamin A!

First, wash or peel the sweet potatoes.  To make sweet potato fries, thinly slice the sweet potato with or without the peels.  (Mine have peels.)  Next, pour an even layer of oil across the cooking surface.  You can use a cookie sheet in the oven, a sauce pan, or a griddle... Fry the potatoes in the oil until very tender.  Add salt as they are cooking if desired.  Sometimes I add onion or garlic salt for a little extra flavor.  These fries are simple to make and absolutely delicious!

Taco Seasoning

The time has come (well a while ago now) that I have given up on taco seasoning.  It just has too much white sugar in it.  After avoiding it for long enough, I have come up with a pretty satisfying alternative.

I use a blend of garlic, cumin, and oregano.  Lighter on the oregano than the garlic and cumin.  You may recognize these spices from the white chili recipe.  Mixing in a few other taco-like spices doesn't hurt.  Little green chilies often make the spices hotter and flavorful.

Moist Applesauce Treats

1/2 Cup of Butter

3 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Cups of Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup of Fat Free Milk

1 Tsp. of Salt
1 Tbs. Vanilla
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Eggs
1/2 Tsp. Cloves
1 Tsp. Cinnamon

Thoroughly cream the butter and Brown Sugar.  Next, mix in applesauce, eggs, and milk with the salt, baking soda, spices, and vanilla.  Finally, mix in enough flour that the consistency becomes like thick cake batter.  Pour and spread evenly in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-25 minutes until a fork comes out clean.  Option: you can make these into cookies by using half as much milk and dropping the dough into balls on a greased cookie sheet.

Oven Roasted Cauliflower

1 Head of Cauliflower

1/4 Cup of Canola/ Olive Oil

Taco Seasoning

Powdered Garlic

Cut cauliflower into bit-size or slightly larger pieces.  Cover in oil.  You may not need the entire quarter cup, it will depend on how large the head of cauliflower is.  Next, use enough of the spices to get an even coat of spices on the cauliflower.  You may choose to use only garlic or substitute the taco seasoning for Italian seasoning.  The spices are up to you!  Bake at 350 degrees until tender.  The time will depend on your oven, but it takes about ten to fifteen minutes in my oven.

Quick Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 TBS Gluten Flour
2 TBS Brown Sugar or Honey
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 TBS Canola Oil
1 Cup of cold Water

Gather dry ingredients into a bowl. Pour oil and some of the cold water.  Continue adding water until you have a suitable pancake batter.  Lightly grease a skillet.  These pancakes will not bubble like ones from a mix, so flip them when the edges look done.  Keep temperature low enough to cook the middle of the pancakes.  When cooking, the outside will become paler and paler just before turning golden brown on the outside.  I usually put honey and a little butter on my pancakes instead of cheap corn syrup (what "syrup" usually is.)  This recipe makes 8-10 small pancakes. 

Wonderful Whole Wheat Brownies

1/2 Cup Shortening

1 Cup of Softened Butter

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsps of Vanilla

1 tsp of Salt

3 Cups Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 2/3Cups of Whole Wheat Flour

Cream the sugar, shortening, and butter with the salt, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla.  When well creamed, add the two eggs.  Evenly mix in the cocoa powder.  Add the flour in parts, stirring in evenly.  The brownie batter will be much denser than a mix from a box.  Makes one 9X13 pan.  Bake 20-40 minutes at 350 degrees until a fork comes out clean.  Cooking time varies a lot between ovens, pans, and depth of the batter.

Simply Sweet Tuna Salad

One serving of Whole Wheat Noodles

Can of Tuna (drained)
1/4 cup of Broccoli
Handful of sliced carrots
Dash of Salt
Dash of Pepper
2 tsps of Honey

Cook the noodles.  Strain and set aside.  Use cooking spray (I use a canola or olive oil-based spray.) to grease the sauce pan/skillet.  I used the same one that I cooked the noodles in.  Heat the broccoli and carrots until tender.  Add tuna and noodles.  Now, add salt, pepper, and honey.  Add other seasonings to taste.  This can be adapted to feed more people.  I did not use the entire can of tuna for the single serving.