The Best Ever Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

These cookies are totally addictive! You can not eat just one or even 3...more like 5 at a time! Even the carnivore can't get enough!

 

 

Vianne: These are absolutely the best cookies I've ever had! They are toasty/crunchy and salty/sweet. A+

Mariah: A cinch to make, and a real comfort food. I try to make them only "once in a while" because if they are in the house I can't control myself! A+

Ingredients:

3/4 cup earth balance "butter"

1/2 cup sugar  

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup almond milk 

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon  

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup pecans and walnuts

1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup craisins

3 cups old fashioned oats

Directions:

1.  In bowl combine first 5 ingredients and mix until smooth

2.  In separate bowl combine next 6 ingredients

3.  Combine the two bowls together

4.  Add nuts, raisins, craisins, and oats

5.  Drop rounded cookie balls onto ungreased cookie sheet

6.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minute

Corn Chowder

Our friend Liz gave us a terrific new cookbook called  The Complete Vegan Kitchen by Janneguin Bennett. One of the first recipes we decided to try was corn chowder. We are crazy for soup and this one did not disappoint us. The contrast of the slightly spicy broth with the sweet corn was fantastic. A

 

 

Ingredients: 

 

8 small red skin potatoes peeled and cut into half inch cubes

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegan margarine or oil

2 medium onions diced

2 medium carrots diced

1tsp minced garlic

4 stalks celery diced

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp cayenne

1/8 tsp dark chili powder

3 tbsp flour

8 cups warm veggie stock

1 tbsp oil

1 large red pepper cut into 1/2 inch squares

2 medium green bell peppers cut into 1/2 inch squares

4 cups corn kernels

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

diced tomatoes for garnish

 

Directions:

 

Cook the potatoes separately by boiling and add the salt to the water. Reserve potatoes.

 

In a large soup pot over medium heat, cook the onions, celery, garlic, carrots, celery and spices in the margarine until they are soft.

 

Add flour, stirring and cooking for about 2 minutes so that no lumps develop.

Remove pot from heat.

 

Add stock one cup at a time, stirring so that it mixes evenly each time before adding the next cup.When the mixture is smooth, return the pot to medium heat and stir occasionally until it reaches a boil and thickens.

 

In a saute pan, saute the peppers in the oil until they are tender. Add to the soup.

 

Add the potatoes, corn, and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

Garnish with fresh tomatoes.

 

 



Neat Loaf

Think you have to give up meatloaf if you become a vegan? Nope! This recipe is an amazing substitute for that classic comfort food. Guaranteed to please even the biggest meatloaf lover! A

We got this recipe from the book: Main Street Vegan by Victoria Moran

Neat Loaf:

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 medium bell pepper finely chopped
2 medium carrots shredded or finely chopped
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp dried sage
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp stone ground or Dijon style mustard
barbecue sauce or ketchup

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine all the ingredients except the barbecue sauce or ketchup {we use ketchup}
Mix for two minutes with a large spoon, this will help bind it together
Pat into an oil sprayed 5 x 9 inch loaf pan and top with barbecue sauce or ketchup
Bake for 60 minutes {we baked it more like 90 minutes}
Let stand for 10 minutes before serving

Makes great sandwiches too the next day!

Shopping with Mariah and Vianne 101

It's easy to get overwhelmed when you are at the grocery store. Here are some of our favorite go to items. You'll pretty much find these in our cart every time we shop.


Amy's soup...any flavor! These soups are vegetarian, flavorful, and good for you! Vianne packs them for lunch or eats them for an afterschool snack (first dinner). Her favorites are Vegetable Barley, Alphabet, and Minestrone. A+

Mariah loves Coconut Almond Milk by Blue Diamond. It's amazing over cereal. Not a big fan of rice milk or soy milk, but this almond milk is D-lish! A+

The Carnivore (who prefers his true identity to be protected) is crazy for frozen Mango Pops. He loves to eat them after school for a cool refreshing (not too bad for you) treat. They are the Wholefoods 365 brand. A

Vianne and her fake chicken tenders... they are truly a love affair. Better than the real thing! And that's the truth! They are made by Gardein. A

We make Pizza a lot in our house. It's easy and quick, we love that! These crusts make dinner prep literally about 15 minutes. They are thin and chewy and crispy all at the same time! By Top This. A

Nothing beats homemade pasta sauce. Except this sauce by Poblano Farms. It's pricey, but worth every penny. It's made locally and is jam packed with flavor! Simple, and amazing! A+

Pasta is so good... but all the white flour is so bad (for your hips). We DESPISE whole wheat pasta. YUCK! Carboard! We recenltly discovered this brown rice pasta. The taste is great and the texture is spot on. A terrific substitute for regular pasta and gluten free! A

Last but not least, Mariah's favorite cereal. Top it with that coconut almond milk, a chopped banana and some golden raisins. A beautiful breakfast! By Ezekiel 4:9. A

Good luck on your next trip to the market. Let us know know if you try out any of our favorites!

Juice 101

This is our first foray into video making. We started with something easy, juice. Although, we messed up a portion of the video and drank the juice by mistake without filming it. Oops. You get the idea!

You can watch this video on youtube too. Here's the link: http://youtu.be/jmbTRKAI4OM


If you want to juice too this is what we made:

Juice 1: Hands down everyone's favorite. Apple, Kale, and Lemon
Juice 2: Cucumber, Honeydew, Strawberry
Juice 3: Pineapple, Watermelon, Parsley, Basil


Hope you liked our first video! It was fun to make so we'll be trying more.

Random Friday Yum Yum #1

Welcome to the first installment of Random Friday! A yummy smorgasbord {proud we spelled that right without the help of spellcheck} of tasty vittles we've sampled all week. The theme of this post...wait for it...Eating Vegan on Vacation? ... Yes!
We recently spent a week in San Diego CA. You'd think there would be lots of obvious choices for entire restaurants devoted to vegan fare in health conscious Cali. Not so... or at least we couldn't find them. However, We were delighted to discover that with a little imagination and ever so slight menu-customizing you can totally pull off a veg-cation. Here are some of the great dishes we had while soaking up the sun.


Acai Breakfast Bowl {Mariah}

Dessert or breakfast? Dessert for breakfast! Frozen acai berry blend topped with granola, banana, and honey! A+ Going to try to make this one at home.

Naked Pizza 1 {Mariah}

We were intrigued by Naked Pizza, a brand new pizza chain with healthy aspirations, whose slogan is "start naked. no freaky chemicals." Their crust has 10 grains, prebiotic agave sweetener and probiotics. This is the superbiotic: artichoke, spinach, bell pepper, mushroom, garlic, red onion, and cilantro. Topped with dairy free  Daiya cheese. We're giving this pizza an A, and wish there was a Naked Pizza near us!

Naked Pizza 2 {Vianne}

Custom Pizza! Black beans & bell pepper. This pizza rocked my vegan world! A+

Veggie Fajitas {hold the cheese please}

Mexican food can usually be easily veganized. I subbed the re fried beans for a fresh corn salad and bi passed the sour cream and cheese. Delish! B

Yammy Veggie Burger {Mariah}

Super delish homemade veg burger made with yams and black beans. Hold the mayo, but add BBQ sauce, avocado, and cucumbers for extra veg-factor. So great to find a veg option at a burger joint! B+

Sweet Potato Fries {Vianne and Mariah}

Okay, so they aren't good for you but this is vacation! B+

Sweet Shave Ice {Vianne and Mariah}

Perfect treat on a hot afternoon. Root beer on the left, mango on the right. It's not ice cream but does the trick when everyone else is having a treat and you don't want to be left out of the frozen confection fun. Mariah: B-, Vianne: B

Hope you enjoyed the first Random Friday featuring our veg-cation treats. Now go out there and rustle up some veg-grub of your own and report back to us!

Pho' Horn's Restaurant Review

Pho Horn's is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant we visit often. Vietnamese restaurants offer a multitude of great vegan dishes. Pho, pronounced (FAH) is a Vietnamese noodle soup. The soup includes noodles made from rice flour, and is often served with basil, cilantro, thinly sliced green onion, lime juice, and bean sprouts that are added to the soup by the person who is dining.

Pho Horn's is located at 50 Mary Street Pawtucket RI. The local (a strip mall) isn't very glamorous but the food, the prices, and the friendly waiters can't be beat.

Here's what we sampled...

{Mariah} Vegetarian Pho. A+

The vegetable broth is amazing, and has so much flavor you don't even need anything else in it. The veggies are thrown into the hot soup raw, and they are crunchy and vibrant to eat. Fried tofu, mushrooms, broccoli, summer squash and zucchini, carrots, beansprouts and basil really drive it home. It's as beautiful as it is tasty. When you eat it, you really feel like you are doing something good for your body.

{Vianne} Stir fry flat noodle with vegetables. A+

The noddles were delicious and had a chewy texture. The sauce was spicy-sweet and the vegetables (baby corn, pea pods, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, zucchini, celery, onion, mushrooms, and my favorite water chestnut) were crunchy and fresh.

Hope you try Pho Horn's! It's the perfect place for an affordable, delicious, and healthy veggie meal!

Cold Asian - Inspired Noodle Salad

Fall is almost here, but we're still holding on to the tastes of summer. This simple recipe is both a salad and a pasta dish!

 

 

We thought of this recipe on our own, depending on the ingredients we have handy it changes slightly each time we make it, so feel free to customize.

Ingredients:

16oz rice noodles
1 package pea pods
1 bell pepper
2 handfuls small carrots
1 can water chestnuts
1 small cucumber
1 cup crushed peanuts
2 scallions
1 handful basil
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Dressing Ingredients:

6 oz rice vinegar
juice of 3 limes
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup white sugar

Directions:

1. Set pot of water to boil. While waiting, julienne the carrots, pea pods, pepper, and cucumber (keep the cucumber separate). Also, chop the scallions and shred the basil and set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, prepare the dressing by whisking together all the ingredients.

3. Cook your rice noodles according the package directions.

4. Before draining the noodles, poor some of the boiling liquid over the carrots, pea pods, and peppers to blanch them. Let them sit for several minutes in the hot water and then run them under cold water and drain. Drain the noodles and also run them under cold water until they're room temperature or colder.

5. Mix the noodles, blanched veggies, cucumber, water chestnuts, peanuts, chopped scallion, sesame seeds, and basil together with the dressing in a large bowl.

6. Chill for 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

We love this dish, and it's great for leftovers!

Perfect Peach Pie

{Mariah}  Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am the pie queen. I LOVE pie! Especially peach pie, and peaches are perfectly in-season right now! Run don't walk to get yourself some juicy peaches and make a pie or two for someone you love.

**Side Note: This pie was extra tasty because I picked the peaches myself at Sweetberry Farm in Middletown RI. If you've never been to Sweetberry, it is SO worth the trip. We'll be blogging about it soon.

Basic Crust Recipe: {9 inch 2 crust pie}

2 1/2 cups of white all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening {I like to use the crisco sticks}
6-7 tbsp of ice cold water

Mix the flour and the salt together. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender or two knives until the texture looks like small course meal or very tiny peas. It will not be uniform but will combine crumbs and small bits and pieces. Do not overwork the crust, just cut it enough to be lightly mixed. Sprinkle your cold water over the flour mixture a tbsp at a time, mixing with a fork as you go. Use only enough water so that the mixture holds together when you press gently into a ball. You do not want your crust too wet, it's better to go with a drier mixture because the shortening will hold it together creating a flaky crust.

Peach Filling:

1 cup sugar
6 tbsp flour
4+ cups peeled and sliced peaches {I like to overfill my pie a bit}
1/2 a lemon, squeezed

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Line a pie pan with half of the pastry dough that you have rolled out flat. Mix the sugar and flour in a large bowl. Add peaches and lemon juice and toss well. Pile the fruit into the line pie pan. Roll out the top crust and drape it over the pie. Crimp or flute the edges and poke several vents into the top crust. Lightly brush water over the top of the crust and then sprinkle with a sugar or a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake for 10 minutes and then lower the heat to 350 degrees. Bake for another 40-50 minutes more until the top is browned.Let cool completely before serving. I like my peach pie cold, so I always refrigerate and eat the next day.

We adopted this recipe from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook.

Wildflour Vegan Bakery Review

{Vianne} Recently we visited the Wildflour Vegan Bakery and Juice Bar located at 727 East Ave Pawtucket, RI. We found it to be clean, modern, and professional. While eating indoors or on their outdoor patio you can enjoy the sound of Blues music. While dining outdoors you are surrounded by a lovely garden atmosphere. They have amazing food and are very kind to their customers. I hope you will go for an adventure and try their wonderful goods. Here are some foods we tried!

Vianne: I tried the grilled corn, tomato, and pesto pizza. $3.50 a slice. The other slice is smoked portabella and caramelized onion, which our friend Trish ordered.

Vianne's Review: B The corn was crispy & the pesto not too overpowering. The crust is soft, but I would have preferred a little crispiness.

Mariah: I had the Heirloom tomato sandwich with basil on a spelt roll. $7.00.

Mariah's Review: B The spelt roll was squishy/soft and very fresh, the tomatoes were juicy and tasted like they had just been plucked from the garden, and the basil was lovely and aromatic. The only thing that could have elevated this simple classic is a splash of balsamic vinegar.

We split a freshly squeezed Watermelon and Pineapple juice. At $8.00 a bottle {very pricey, but well worth it} it made a refreshing treat that was perfect to share.

Mariah's Review: A+ I was amazed at the freshness and fruitiness of this juice. It may very well be the best juice I have ever had! 

Vianne's Review: A I love this refreshing juice. The first sip I took felt like my taste buds were in a tropical wonderland! 

This is our desert plate. Vianne: I ordered the Peanut butter Brownie, Mariah: I ordered the Coconut Lime Tart and the Lemon Lime Cupcake with Lavender Frosting which I shared with our friend Trish. Jacques {Mariah's son} a.k.a the "Carnivore" ordered the Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Vianne's Review: A+ That brownie was totally the best desert I've ever tasted! You couldn't even tell it was vegan if you didn't know.

Mom's Reviews: A The coconut lime tart was tangy and sweet. The crust was crunchy and flaky and the filling was tart. The coconut shavings on top really added a good toasty flavor. The lemon lime cupcake was spectacular. Dense, moist, and packed with flavor and the sweet, light lavender frosting really set it off.

Side Note: These desserts don't contain any preservatives. They need to be kept refrigerated or eaten immediately. They melt pretty easily, so eat up!

 

The carnivore says: "This cookie is the food of the Gods. I would never have known it was vegan." Quite an endorsement coming from the carnivore cookie connoisseur.

We really enjoyed our visit to Wildflour, it became an instant favorite and plan to go back... a lot! We asked a helpful employee to tell us a little bit about Wildflour and we learned that they have been open for about a year and a half. They are owned by the same restaurateur that owns the Garden Grill next door {we'll be checking that our for sure}. The best selling items in the bakery are the chocolate chip cookies {apparently they have to bake these 3 times a day to keep up with demand}, the peanut butter brownie, and the smore's cupcake.

 

Zucchini Bread

We found this delicious recipe online at allrecipes.com. We had some extra zucchini that my dad {Vianne's grampy...gardener extraordinaire} gave us from his garden and we couldn't let it go to waste.

Here's how to make it:

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup applesauce {we used unsweetened}
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar {we used raw sugar}
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 1/2 cups grated zucchini

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease (2) 8 x 4 inch loaf pans

2. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon together in a large bowl.

3. Beat the bananas, applesauce, veg. oil, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice together in a separate large bowl. Beat the flour mixture into the banana mixture; add the zucchini and mix until combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pans.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 60- 90 minutes. Cool in the pans for 20 mins before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

*** For a crunchy texture we also added a few handfuls of walnuts to the mixture***

Vianne's Review:

I would give this recipe a B+. it was very delicous and to my liking. I was passionate about its bannana flavor. I hope you try this recipe!

Mariah's Review:

I love zucchini bread, mostly because it doesn't taste like zucchini! This is a great way to get your vegan on in the morning, but actually this is so good I could eat it for dessert too. B+