Blueberry Coconut Breakfast Cookies

This is one of those recipe that I pinned on Pinterest but forgot about it. Once I re-discover it and baked it, we are hooked.

The first time I made these breakfast cookies, I made it with macadamia nuts. The coconut oil, macadamia nuts, banana, and vanilla baking in the oven smelled incredibly delicious. I have since tried with almonds and pecan, but the macadamia nuts version is the favorite in the household. Kaydn, usually is not impressed with "healthy" treats, but he'd eat these up straight out of the oven! I have to fight him off if I want to give some away.

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 

2 tablespoon golden flax seed meal

3 table spoons hemp seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups coarsely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, or macadamia nuts)

1/2 cup dried blueberries

Wet ingredients:

3 ripe regular size bananas, mashed

1/4 cup coconut oil, warm enough to be liquid

1 tablespoon raw honey or agave

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degree.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add all other wet ingredients and stir together until blended. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until well combined. (Note: The mixture will seem a little dry once the coconut oil cools down and solidify but the cookie should hold the shape when it's removed from the cookie cutter.)

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray. Press mixture into round cookie cutter (2 1/4 inch or 2 1/2 inch) and place on the cookie sheet. You can also use square or triangle baking pan. 

Bake 350 degree for 25 minutes or until golden. Let cool on cookie sheet. It's best when they are still warm and toasty and crunchy on the outside. Yield about 15 cookies. Store in a airtight container, reheat in toaster oven to serve.

Original recipt for the blueberry-coconut-pecan-breakfast can be found on http://www.kumquatblog.com/2012/03/blueberry-coconut-pecan-breakfast.html

Smoothies

Cassidy & I have been on a alkalizing detox program for a little while. She did it to improve her health and lose some weight; I did it to support her and also to get a start with my new gluten free eating plan. I think gluten has been giving me digestive trouble so I decided to removed it from my diet, along with dairy and sugar which I gave up a couple of year ago. The 21 days alkalizing detox plan is basically gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free plus lots of other restrictions. Some days I feel like a rabbit while I'm munching on baby carrots, cucumbers, and celery sticks. . . .
The best thing that we learned from the detox program is that I discovered some really yummy non-dairy smoothies. We started the program at the beginning of December; what a terrible time to embark a new eating challenge! I felt like there was no way I could help Cassidy to get going since December was the busiest time of the year for me but I managed to come up with a plan.

To save time, I peel and cut up the fruits in advance (approximately 1" chunks), measure and store them in zip lock bags in the freezer. Since I always make two large smoothies, each bag contain 16 oz of fruits.
When I make smoothies, I just pull out one zip lock bag, break up the frozen fruits a bit, dump them in our VitaMix Blending Station blender, add almond, rice, or coconut milk beverage to 16 oz mark and start blending. Usually a little more liquid is needed to keep the blender going until the frozen fruits and non-dairy milk are blended smoothly. I prefer the coconut milk (Silk PureCoconut original) with my smoothies but almond (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Vanilla, unsweetened) or rice milk (Kirkland Signature Organic Ricemilk original) works well also.

Below is a list of smoothies flavors that we love.

Mango Pineapple
8 oz mango
8 oz pineapple

Pineapple Kiwi
3 large kiwi
enough pineapple chunks added to make 16oz

Pineapple Peach
8 oz pineapple
8 oz peaches

Pineapple Raspberries
10 oz pineapple
6 oz raspberries
1 Tbs agave

Raspberries Peach
10 oz peaches
6 oz raspberries
1 Tbs agave

Blueberries Raspberries
8 oz blueberries
8 oz raspberries

"Frosty" smoothie treat
1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze sweetened, or other brand) place in ice tray and freeze into ice cubes
2 Tbs baking cocoa
1 Tbs agave
1/2 cup Sweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

Breakfast Green Smoothie
1/4 cup almond meal
1 piece of fresh ginger, 1/2' thick
1 cup fresh baby kale
1 cup fresh spinach
8 oz mango
8 oz pineapple
6 oz coconut water

Pumpkin, Apple, and Chive Biscuit and other variations

I am not sure if it is "old age" or my liver is no longer functioning well, gluten has been giving me digestive trouble. Couple of year ago I removed dairy and refine sugar from my diet and now gluten is gone. At this rate, pretty soon I will not be eating anything . . . maybe only veggie and fruits. . .  :-(
With my new eating plan, I've been on the lookout for gluten free recipes and I discover a blog called The Urban Poser by Jenni Hulet and absolutely love just about everything. Everything looks so yummy delicious and it's mostly dairy free and gluten free. I almost pinned every photo onto my Pinterest.

The original recipe is called Pumpkin, Apple, Bacon, and Chive Biscuit from The Urban Poser but since bacon is not on the alkalizing detox plan which is  dairy free, gluten free, and sugar free and Cassidy thought the biscuits are too "eggy" (can anyone tell that she doesn't like eggs), so here I am changing recipes.

Dry ingredients:
1/2  cup coconut flour (original recipe called for 1 cup coconut flour, the biscuit is very falls apart easily)
1/2 cup gluten free flour
1/2 tsp baking soda (original recipe calls for 1 tsp baking but I think the final product tastes too much of baking soda)
1/4  tsp salt

Wet ingredients for pumpkin biscuit:
1/2  cup coconut oil, softened
2/3  cup fresh roasted pumpkin puree (butternut squash, acorn squash...)
4-8 Tbsp of coconut milk beverage (depending on the moisture content of the squash)
1 egg
2 Tbs chive chopped, thinly sliced (or dehydrated)
1/4 cup very finely chopped tart apples
(1/4 cup bacon pieces)

Since there is no added sweetener in this recipe, I came up with a different version of the biscuit - apple cinnamon - to be enjoyed while we are on the detox challenge. It's very yummy! Cassidy likes it better than the pumpkin version.

Same dry ingredients as above and add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of all spice for apple cinnamon biscuits. 

Wet ingredients for apple cinnamon biscuit:

1/2  cup coconut oil, melted
2/3  cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 egg

1/4 cup very finely chopped tart apples

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine dry ingredients, shift, and set aside.

In a separate bowl combine the coconut oil, pumpkin puree (or apple sauce), coconut milk (for pumpkin biscuit only), egg, and beat till smooth.  Add the flour mixture to the batter and mix well until no lumps. Add apples and chives (or apples for apple cinnamon biscuit) and mix well. The batter should not be too thick, a little on the soft side but still be able to hold together. Add more liquid if needed as it may vary depending on the texture of the pumpkin puree. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop and drop batter onto the oiled or parchment paper lined baking sheet.Makes about 8-10 scones.

Bake for about 20-25 min or until slightly golden. Do not over bake of they will be dry. Best eaten same day or while still warm. Can store in airtight container and reheat in toaster oven or microwave before serving.

Gluten free flour recipe from The Art of Gluten Free Baking:

1 1/4 C (170 g) brown rice flour
1 1/4 C (205 g) white rice flour
1 C (120 g) tapioca flour
1 C (165 g) sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour or under the brand name, Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum

Raw Vegan Chocolate Cream Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest a long while ago from http://www.pure2raw.com/2012/02/raw-triple-chocolate-cheesecake-recipe/. It perk my interest because the picture of the little chocolate cheese cake looked so good and it is dairy free! I have  developed lactose intolerance recently (the last couple of years) so I immediately wanted to try the recipe. I was a little skeptic about how good it would taste since it is raw and vegan. But I was in heaven when I had my first bite. It has become one of my favorite treats, right up there with Alicia Silverstone's chocolate peanut better cups. This chocolate cream cake is smooth, rich, and creamy; so good!

By the way, I am so glade that Roland purchased the Vitamix blending station (the same thing at Jamba Juice). We always make fun of his obsession with blenders but I sure love using it.

Crust
Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal (original recipe called for pecans)

3-4 medjool dates

1/2 Tbsp maple syrup

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of Real Salt

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse till combined. The crust material should slightly stick together. If it is too dry, add a little more maple syrup. Scoop the almond chocolate crust into mini cheesecake pan and press down with fingers to form the crust firmly into pan. Set aside and make the filling.

Filling

Ingredients:
2 cups cashew pieces
1/2 cup maple syrup (or agave)
1/2 cup water (use half or less if you soak the cashews for a long time)

2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup raw cocoa powder (or regular cocoa powder)

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted into liquid

Directions:
Soak cashews for about 10-15 minutes (optional), rinse well and drain. Place cashews into blender with maple syrup, vanilla, and water, and cocoa powder and blend until creamy. Add in the coconut oil  (make sure the coconut oil is in liquid form) and blend till smooth. Scrape down the sides if necessary so the filling is nice and smooth.

Scooping the filling into mini cheesecake pans and fill to the top. Place the chocolate cream cake into the freezer to set for a few hours before removing from pan.

I like the vegan chocolate cream cake as is but it is fun to have some optional toppings such as chopped almond and chocolate ganache (1/2 cup vegan semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips and 1/8 cup coconut beverage or any nut milk,  melted over a double boiler).

Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Kimberly and Cassidy wanted to bake something during the winter holiday so I suggested trying out the recipe "My Favorite Cupcake" from The Kind Diet. I loved the cupcakes; it reminded me of the light, springy, and not very sweet cakes from my childhood. However, Kaydn did not give a favorable review of the cupcakes. He was all excited when he saw the cupcakes with the pretty frosting, but after he took one huge bite he declared that it was the worst cupcakes he had ever tasted. "It is not sweet at all!" he said. A neighbor asked me about my blog one day and a couple of days later Kaydn told me that he feel sorry for his friend because his mom is going to cook some vegan food and it was all my fault. I had a great laugh about it; I seemed to always get into big trouble with the kids (mine and other people's kids) when I start to talk about healthy eating.

Since I "mess around" with recipes all the time, I can't help but increase the ww flour/flour ratio and replace the original frosting recipe with a chocolate cream cheese frosting that I derived form my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe.

Dry ingredients:
2/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Wet ingredients:
2/3 cup hemp or soy milk
2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
1/3 cup safflower oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
3 oz Tofutti milk free cream cheese
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
          
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the milk and the apple cider vinegar together in a medium size bowl and set aside for at least 5 minutes, the mixture gets a bit lumpy.  Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the milk/vinegar mixture and stir to mix. Add wet ingredients to the dry mixture and mix well until there is no lumps. Pour the batter into lined muffin tin (the batter makes 12 cupcakes) and bake at 325 F for 18 - 20 minutes or until a inserted tooth pick comes out clean. Set on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
Whipped all ingredients together until fluffy.
This frosting is not very sweet; the original cream cheese frosting recipe called for 2 cups of powder sugar so the sugar has been drastically reduced. If a sweeter frosting is desired, increase the agave nectar to 2/3 cup or add some powder sugar. For a frosting that taste milk chocolate rather than the dark chocolate, increase the agave nectar to 2/3 cup, use 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/3 cup non-fat milk powder or soy or coconut milk powder for non-dairy frosting.

Brownie with Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Since I become lactose intolerant and pretty much stop eating milk products, this dessert has become one of my favorites. It's quick and easy and not too sweat so I don't have to feel guilty about eating it. Roland can eat a whole pan by himself in one evening; I think he must believe that low in sugar + whole grain = no calorie. The original recipe is called "Coffee Fudge Brownies" from The Kind Diet. Since I don't like coffee flavor of anything, I modify the recipe to be just brownies and changed the glazing to a less fattening chocolate ganache glaze. I was going to call it "Healthy Brownies" but healthy and brownies just did not sound right together.

Dry ingredients:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour (I grind the rice flour in my wheat grinder but I am sure you can get them in the health food store)
1/2 cup unsweetened coco powder
3/4 cup date sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:
3/4 cup rice milk or coconut milk beverage
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup safflower oil or other types of vegetable oil

Optional:
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Chocolate Ganache Glaze
1 1/2 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips
1/4 cup rice milk or coconut milk

Preheat the oven to 325 F and oil a 8x13 baking pan.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients. Stir and mix well and then add the walnuts if desired. Pour the batter into an 8x13 pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.

Melt the chocolate chips and the rice milk using a double boiler, stir continuously until the chocolate chips have melted the the sauce is smooth. Spread the ganache evenly over the brownies and let cool completely. If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a medium sauce pan and a large glass or stainless bowl. Bring one cup of water to a soft boil in the medium sauce pan. Place the chocolate chips and the rice milk in the glass bowl and set on top of the sauce pan to make the ganache.

My favorite alternative for the ganache during the Christmas holiday is to use the chocolate truffles dusted in coco powder from Costco instead of the chocolate chips ( about 24 truffles with 1/4 cup of coconut milk). Yum!!! My kids wanted to eat the truffles but I hid them deep in the freezer so I can use them on my brownies a little longer.

Curry Tofu Salad

When I was running errands one day stopping at Whole Foods to get a few things, I all of sudden became very hungry. I was so hungry that I thought I could not continue without putting some food into my stomach. Even at Whole Foods, there are limited things you can grab that are low in sugar and dairy free. I ended up getting a curry tofu salad and it was so delicious! I came home, study the label, wrote down the ingredients, googled curry tofu salad recipes, made a couple of batched of it, and came up with my version of curry tofu salad. The only issue I have with this dish is that I can't stop eating it! I think this recipe can also to turn into a wonderful curry chicken salad.



Tofu, 14oz, firm or extra firm, cut into 1/2" cubes

1 -2 tablespoon Olive oil, for pan frying or baking tofu

1/2 cup Green bell pepper, diced into 1/2" pieces

1/2 cup Red bell pepper, diced into 1/2" pieces

3/4 cup Carrots, shredded
2 Green onions, finely sliced

1 Tablespoon Cilantro, cut

1/3 cup Raisins

1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Curry Dressing:

2 heaping tablespoons Nayonaise (vegan) or Mayo; I like Follow Your Heart Vegenaise

2 heaping tablespoons Mango Chutney

2 teaspoons curry powder

If you don't have Mango Chutney, use the following ingredients, it tastes pretty close. The first two times I made the dish, I didn't have Mango Chutney, and the end result was very good also.
2 heaping tablespoons Mayonaise or Mayo
2 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 clove Roasted garlic, minced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon sugar or agave

dash of salt & ground pepper

Cut Tofu into 1/2 inch cubes, pan fry until lightly golden. For firmer texture, use extra firm tofu and deep fry and cubes until lightly golden. You can also baked the tofu in a 375F oven on a lightly greased baking sheet for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time. Don't over cook the tofu; it can get dry. Mix the ingredients of the curry dressing in a small bowl and set aside. Combine tofu, bell peppers, green onions, carrots, cilantro, raisins, and almonds  in a large bowl. Top with the curry dressing and toss thoroughly. Chill for at least an hour. The raisins will sweeten up the dish; add salt & pepper to taste before serving.

Corn Muffin & Corn Bread

Kimberly loves corn bread. She was working on a school project and needed a good corn bread recipe. (Her project was to design, typeset, and whatever one needed to do to publishing a family cookbook.)  I have a lot of recipes for lot of things but apparently not corn bread. I loved the Napa Valley Pantry's World Best Corn Bread mix. It made a moist and slightly sweet corn bread with bits of corn. Yummy! My mouth watered just thinking about it. However, the "worlds best corn bread mix" was no longer available. Come to think of it, I have not make cornbread much ever since I ran out of Napa Valley Pantry's corn bread mix. All other corn bread recipes I tried in the past was just ok. After all, how can you compete with the "worlds best"?

My assignment from Kim was to try new cornbread recipes, so I tried two vegan corn bread recipes. One is from The Kind Diet by Alicia Sliverstone and the other one is from The Little House of Veggies http://littlehouseofveggies.blogspot.com/. The Kind Diet corn bread was better than most of the recipes I've tried but it was too sweet and too crumbly. It had potential; so I modify the recipe and ended up making four batches of corn bread in one week. After a lot of eating and surveying, I think I really like the end product. The corn bread recipe from the Little House of Veggies is also very good. I have a hard time deciding which one I like better so I've included both recipes.

Anyway, after all the trouble I went through, Kim said that she got a good recipe from her best friend's mom. Oh well, I guess at least I've found one good corn bread recipe and one good corn muffin recipe.

Whole Grain Corn Bread - base on the corn bread recipe from The Little House of Veggies with minor modifications.

Dry Ingredient:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour (white wheat)
1 tablespoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon xantham gum (optional, helps the cornbread bind together better)

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup soymilk, almond milk, or milk of choice
1/3 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 8 inch square baking dish. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Then add the wet to the dry. Pour into the baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

Corn Bread or Muffin - loosely base on the corn bread recipe from The Kind Diet

Wet ingredients:
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 3/4 cup of rice milk
1/4 cup safflower oil

Dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or gluten free flour, see below)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Real Salt
1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum (it helps with binding)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the wet mixture. Mix till ingredients are well combined, do not over mix. The mixture is quite runny. For muffins, line the muffin tin with paper liner and evenly distribute the batter in the muffin tin; fill to about 2/3 full and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center pass the toothpick test (a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread or cake comes out clean). Makes about 18 muffins. For corn bread, pour the mix into a lightly grease a 8 inch square baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes.

I made a batch of this corn bread with the gluten free flour below, and it was yummy. Loved it!

Gluten free flour recipe from The Art of Gluten Free Baking:

1 1/4 C (170 g) brown rice flour
1 1/4 C (205 g) white rice flour
1 C (120 g) tapioca flour
1 C (165 g) sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour or under the brand name, Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum

Oatmeal Cookies

I bake these healthy oatmeal cookies and loved them. Kaydn and Roland discovered them and they were vanishing fast from my pantry.  I wanted Cassidy to try them before they were gone, so I asked her to have a taste. She politely said "no, thank you." Later on, I try to get her to eat these cookies again when she was reaching for some corn bread. She had a funny look on her face and said "thanks, but I am not in the mood for oatmeal cookies." I really wanted her to try it so I followed her around in the kitchen and kept saying "try it, you've got to try it." It was almost like the book Green Eggs and Ham, I followed her around and repeatedly say "try it, try it, you will like it, just take one bite!" She said the cookie looked "funny", too chunky, and "too healthy." I should started to quote Green Eggs and Ham and made a joke about it but my drill sergeant instinct won and I tried to "order" her to eat the cookie. Of course this did not work. Roland heard the commotion and came upstairs to see what was going on. He was able to persuade Cassidy to have a bite. Once she had one bite, she was hooked. I tried to stop her from finishing the rest of the cookies but she said they were so good and she could not stop eating them. The recipe is adopted from Alicia Silverstone's Oatmeal, Walnuts, and Dry Plum Cookies recipe form The Kind Diet.

Dry ingredients:
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour (from white wheat)
1/3 cup date sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Real Salt

Wet ingredients:
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup safflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon molasses

1/4 cup chopped dried plum (dried plum = prunes or other kind of dried fruit)
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F and line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
If your date sugar is clumpy, place the 1/3 cup date sugar in a blender with 1 cup of flour and pulse until date sugar and flour are well blended with no clumps. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate medium size bowl, mix well and add to the dry ingredients. Stir the mixture well and fold in the dried plums and nuts. If the cookie dough is to crumbly, add 1 - 2 teaspoons of water, one teaspoon at the time, until the dough stay together.
Use a small ice cream scooper and drop the dough onto the cookie sheet. Lightly press down to flatten the top. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Make about 30 cookies.

I think we should re-read the Green Eggs and Ham together as a family :-D
I would not, could not, in a box.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them anywhere.
I do not eat green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

Cheesy, Oozy Guacamole Bean Dip

This dip really surprised me, it was deliciously good, my whole family loved it. I made it recently for a Lia Sophia Jewelry Party and all my friends loved it too. So many people requested this recipes to be added to my blog so here it is. The recipe is from the book The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.
When I make it, I always make two versions, vegan version for me since I am staying away from dairy and regular version for the rest of the family. When my family finish the regular dip, they all help clean out the vegan dip. Kimberly especially likes the vegan version; she says it has less fattening. I use Follow Your Heart vegan gourmet cheddar cheese alternative. It is so much better than the soy or rice cheese we used years ago when we were on a dairy free diet because of Cassidy's allergy to milk. It also freezes well; no crumbling or falling apart after thawing. One thing about store bought taco seasoning, I was reading the label and was surprised to find that it contain milk product. I make my own taco seasoning and included the recipe below.

1 can refried beans or refried black beans, I prefer the refried black beans
3 large avocados
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 - 8oz containers nondairy sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
1/2 cup diced mild green chiles, drained
1/2 cup sliced black olives
5 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups shredded vegan Cheddar cheese

Spread a layer of refried beans in the bottom of an 8x13 quart glass baking dish. I use two round 9.5" Pyrex pie pan since I make regular and vegan versions, you can also use 8x8 pan for thicker bean dip. Mash the avocados (pitted and peeled) in a bowl, add the lime juice, mix, and spread on top of the refried beans. Stir together the sour cream and taco seasoning and spread over the avocado.  Sprinkle the green chilies, olives, and tomato on top of the sour cream mixture and top with cheese.  Heat the dip for 15 - 20 minutes in preheated 350F oven until the dip is heated through and the cheese is a bit melted. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Taco Seasoning ( recipe is approximately equal to a store bought package)
1 tablespoon ground chili pepper (I use Ancho Chili Petter)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Moroccan Couscous with Saffron

This is a dish from The Kind Diet that I wanted to try for a long time but never seemed to have winter squash on hand. When I finally had the winter squash, I was out of carrots or summer squash. It took me three months to get all of the ingredients together and make the recipe, the result was yummy. I love this dish: love the texture of the couscous, love the sweetness of the winter squash, and love the spices.

Vegetables:
2 cups peeled butternut or banana squash, cut into 1/2" cubes
2 cups yellow onion, diced
1 1/2 cups carrots, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 1/2 cups zucchini or yellow squash, cut into 1/2" cubes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Real salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375F. Place the vegetables on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 30 minutes. Turn and mix the vegetables after it has roasted for 15 minutes.

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (vegan) or chicken broth
2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter (vegan) or butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads

1 1/2 cups whole wheat couscous
2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped

While the vegetables are roasting, bring the vegetable broth to boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat, add the butter, cumin, saffron, plus salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and let steep for at least 15 minutes. Reheat the broth to a boil when the vegetables are ready.

When the vegetables are done, place them in a large deep skillet pan and add the couscous and the scallions. Pour the hot broth over the couscous mixture in the deep skillet pan, mix gently, and bring it up to boil (this should happened very quickly) As soon as the broth starts to boil, turn off the heat, cover the couscous mixture, and let it sit on the stove top for 15 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork before serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

When Kimberly was training for the Park City half marathon, she asked me to be supportive of her training and her effort of to eat health which means "stop making sweet treats". I agree to be helpful and decided to drastically reduce sugar from of our diet and make treats with as little sugar as possible. Cutting white sugar and high fructose corn syrup years ago was easy; I replaced them with organic evaporated can juice. But how do you make treats with very little or no organic cane sugar?
This recipe came to the rescue for me since I like peanut butter and chocolate. The recipe is adopted from the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone but I must give a word of caution for those who feel incline to read the book since I have mentioned many recipes from this book on my blog. Even though this book has great recipes, it is not for people who love, enjoy, and plan to eating meat and dairy; her recipes are either vegan or are based on the macrobiotic diet. But her philosophy about dessert is great: "You may not think of desserts as health foods, but I beg to differ. By eating scrumptious vegan desserts on a regular basis, I maintain my mental health, for there is no life without dessert!"

I prefer the mini muffin tin to the regular size tin and one batch makes about 30 mini cups. I can have one or two mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup at night and be happy and satisfied.

3 Table spoons vegan butter; I use 4T if using malt sugar
1/4 cup maple sugar or other granulated sweetener  I use 1/4 cup malt sugar since maple sugar is expensive.
3/4 cup crunchy or creamy peanut butter, unsweetened and unsalted; I use Costco's organic creamy peanut butter
10 graham cracker squares or 16 Health Valley amaranth graham crackers, crushed (use a ziplock bag and wooden rolling pin). I prefer the Health Valley graham crackers; they are so good that I tend munch on them for snacks.

Chocolate Sauce
1 cup grain sweetened, non dairy chocolate or carob chips (I love unsweetened carob chips but my kids do not, so I stay with the grain vegan sweetened chocolate chips)
1/4 soy, rice or nut milk; I use So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk beverage
1/4 cup chopped pecans, almonds, or peanuts

Line a 12 cup muffin tin (regular size) with paper liners and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and maple sugar and mix well. Remove the mixture form the heat. Evenly divide the mixture, approximately 2 table spoons per cup, among the muffin cups. Be sure to let the mixture completely cooled before you continue the next step.

Combine the chocolate and milk in another pan. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted. Spoon the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture. Top with chopped nuts. Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours before serving.

Summertime Succotach - lima beans and corn

This is a dish from the book The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone and I was pleasantly surprised the first time I tasted it. I must confess that I had not been big fan of lima beans for a long time. When we first moved to the states, my mother used lima beans in place of fresh soy beans in a recipe because they looked almost identical (back then fresh soy beans were impossible to find). My prejudice against lima bean was formed when I was expecting fresh soy beans and got a mouthful of lime beans instead. Never the less, I love the idea of lima beans because of the book A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon (see the end of the blog entry). I loved the story and the fun illustration and used to read it to my kids all the time.

1 tablespoon Earth Balance butter (I often skipped this ingredient and just use the olive oil because I'm too lazy to get it out of the fridge)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup diced red inion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (10 oz) package frozen baby lima beans, thawed
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon white or red balsamic vinegar (I definitely like the white balsamic better)

Heat the butter and oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, and saute for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onion begins to brown. Add the garlic, and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the lima beans, and saute for 5 minutes. Add the corn and tomatoes, and saute 1 minute longer or until just heated through. Remove from the hear, and stir in the parsley, basil, and vinegar. Serve warm or chilled.

There is a young girl in the book that likes lima beans...but she doesn't want her friends to know that she likes them...(she worries what others might think of her)...so she stops eating lima beans in order to be like everyone else...and she starts getting stripes and all sorts of patterns and colors all over her body...read it to find out what happens in the end...