In the Kitchen

Tried 2 new recipes plus one old favorite this weekend. Cole was my sous chef for the baking activities; he did all right :)

First up was the old favorite, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, based on this EF recipe with substitutions to make dairy and egg-free. They were a tad on the crispy side (maybe because of the substitutions?), so need to make a note to decrease the baking time.

Next was the first attempt to recreate Pita Jungle's hummus :) I used this recipe, adding cilantro to half of the batch (yum!). It was very tasty, and pretty straight-forward. Although I think I'll aim for a little thinner consistency next time.

And finally, tried a new vegan banana bread recipe - it smells delicious, but we won't have our first taste until breakfast tomorrow.

Baking with Sun Butter

Since peanut butter has been banned from our house because of Lauren's peanut allergy, we keep an alternative on hand - sunflower seed butter.  It has the texture and smell of peanut butter, and has similar (but different) nutty taste.  Ironically, Lauren won't eat it - but Cole loves it; his favorite is sun butter and jelly sandwiches :)  I've been wanting to try using it in place of peanut butter for baking.


Yesterday, Lauren and I tried out this recipe for sun butter cookies, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I halved the recipe, and used Earth's Balance in place of the butter, and my egg substitute of 1T flaxseed meal + 3 T water (so Cole could enjoy them too).


They taste very similar to good old-fashioned peanut butter cookies.  I will definitely be making them again.  Even Lauren liked them; I'll convert her to a sun butter-lover yet...


Peanut-butter puffs, is another recipe that I've tried using sun butter as a substitute.  Saw it in an issue of Parenting magazine, and found a copy here.  We made these for a school potluck.


We all found it hard to eat just one.

Sugar in the Morning

On Sundays, we usually have one 'special' breakfast item - smoothies, pancakes, etc. A few weeks ago, I was a bit tired of pancakes, so I made Lauren an offer I was sure she wouldn't refuse - waffles, chocolate waffles. Unfortunately, Cole did not partake (although he seemed perfectly content with his frozen waffle).


This week I searched for a dairy/egg-free version so Cole could enjoy too, and found this recipe for Chocolate Banana Vegan Waffles - which uses a banana, olive oil, dairy-free milk, whole wheat flour, and a little maple syrup and brown sugar.  I made a few modifications (used vanilla soy milk, doubled the cocoa powder, and reduced the amount of olive oil slightly), and it turned out quite well.  Next time I'll probably double the recipe (so there are plenty of seconds!).

Cookies with a Twist

Made these last weekend, using my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe, but with a few substitutions. In place of butter used earth balance, in place of the egg used 1 T flax seed meal + 3 T water (to make them Cole-friendly), and in place of raisins made half a batch with chocolate chips (Ghiradelli semi-sweet, which are dairy-free) and the other half with butterscotch chips. So yummy.

Test Kitchen

Tested out a vegan cake recipe, in preparation for Cole's upcoming birthday.  This chocolate cake recipe was highly rated, and did not disappoint.  No eggs, milk, or butter - yet very moist and tasty.  The recipe calls for baking in a 9x5 loaf pan, but I made a dozen cupcakes (with a little leftover batter), baking for about 18 min.  Lauren helped me make them, and we used our newly purchased batter tube - so easy and mess-free!  (Although Lauren informed me that it was a little hard for her to squeeze because she didn't have a lot of muscles in her legs....)



The final product.  I added some vegan vanilla frosting (using Earth Balance spread and a little soy milk).  While it was good, I prefer a whipped frosting over buttercream.  Might try a chocolate frosting next time; or maybe go for a pre-made frosting and just let Cole enjoy his without :)