Fluffy Banana Waffles

In case fluffy, crisp banana waffles weren't enough... I speckled them with chocolate chips, and topped them with sweet maple syrup, fresh bananas, and chocolate covered almond with coarse sea salt.  I'd call that a good morning.

Strawberry Ginger Non-Dairy Soft Serve

After making the most delicious chewy chocolate chip cookies yesterday, and eating three of said cookie as I cooked dinner this evening... I couldn't justify a terribly decadent dessert.  I could however, justify a delicious serving of strawberry ginger 'soft serve'... or maybe two servings :)

Healthy Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies

 I get really excited about Fall, because it means beautiful foliage, and pumpkin everything.  So, the other day I had this streak of brilliance and decided I needed to make non-dairy pumpkin yogurt.  While in theory, it was an awesome idea, I failed epically.  But upon my culinary defeat, I had an extra cup of pumpkin to use and alas these cookies were born, and far from a culinary defeat they were.  Plus, who doesn't love the notion of eating a cookie (or four) for breakfast--and at only about 50 calories a cookie, you totally can.

Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing

So, I have this sister-in-law and she's magic. Seriously. I like ANYTHING she feeds me, even things that have spent decades on my list of least favorite foods.  She's converted me to mayonnaise (although I still won't spread it on a sandwich), mustard (which I eagerly spread on sandwiches), enchiladas,  pasta salad, and a bunch of foods I previously considered offensive for one reason or another.  This conversion isn't a small feat either, I was the pickiest child in the world.  I basically lived on refried beans and plain noodles as a kid--gourmet, I know.
Ever since I discovered mustard is actually really good, I've been finding ways to include it in everything and even made my own (which despite the simplicity of making mustard was a total fail, 4 entire cups of total fail that are still sitting in my fridge, to be precise...).  My new favorite use for mustard, however is this creamy, tangy, sweet and surprisingly healthy salad dressing.  Its great on lettuce (or should I say with lettuce... I practically use a 1:1 ratio...), as a dressing for pasta salad, or as a veggie dip.  You should probably try it :)

Creamy White Bean & Artichoke Dip

 I'll write something exciting later... I have dishes to wash.

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise*
• 3/4 cup canned white beans
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 shallot, quartered
• 1/2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp ground mustard
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained
• 1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapeños, drained

1. Put everything except the artichoke hearts and jalapeños in a food processor or blender and zap until creamy.  Add the artichokes and jalapeños and pulse until they are incorporated, but still offer a bit of texture.
2. Serve with pita chips, tortilla chips, celery sticks, or other veggies.  Keeps about a week in the fridge, although the jalapeño flavor will strengthen.

Notes:

• I generally use great northern beans, because it's what I always have in my pantry.  Cannellini beans will yield the creamiest dip.
• If you like a milder heat, a 4oz can of green chilis can be subbed for the jalapeños.
•  If you plan on using the dip immediately, you can sub in Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise, it simply won't last as long in the fridge.

Coconut Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

Poor coconut caramel cinnamon rolls.  I made them all the way back in June, and just now remembered to blog them.  My forgetfulness, however, has absolutely nothing to do with the flavor of these babies, because they are absolutely delicious.  Not to mention they are vegan... which means healthy.... right?!

Creamy Cashew Chicken Salad

Does anyone else eat weird breakfasts?  For instance, through middle school, I at a PB&J sandwich every day at the bus stop at the crack of dawn.  After awhile, if I brought a waffle instead, my classmates found that strange.  Well, my eclectic breakfast habits have only elevated since then... I woke up this morning, opened my fridge, and passed up my yogurt, fruit, etc and decided I wanted chicken salad.  So I made chicken salad, but not just any heavy, oily chicken salad--this is special chicken salad--guilt-free chicken salad.  Cashews provide the creaminess, while white grape juice concentrate lends a tangy sweetness, all punctuated by crunchy grapes, celery and just a hint of soy sauce.  This stuff made me a chicken salad believer.

Mango Blueberry Muffins with Coconut Streusel

If I was a character in a comic strip, I think I would be The Midnight Baker.  (If 2am Baker had a better ring to it, that title may be more accurate...)  My superhero costume would be my ruffly apron, and I would combat evil with my spatula.  It will be great.  Anyhow, this title is appropriate because when I get bored past 9 o'clock, I bake.  And baking leads to eating, so good thing these mini muffins are pretty healthy.  They boast whole wheat flour, oats, limited fats, AND they are bursting with juicy mangoes and succulent blueberries.

Vegan Gooey Butter Cookies

When I google a vegan recipe, and find unsatisfactory results I have an inexplicable urge to fix it.  I'm not even a vegan... I guess I just like fixing things or I have a bunch of coconut oil and Tofutti cream cheese I need to use before I move.  Plus there are all those poor vegans in the world unfortunate enough to have never experienced the unique St. Louis offering of gooey butter anything.  So, animal-friendly folks: gooey butter cookies!  Ta-dah!

Salty Medjool Caramel Dip

I've been mildly obsessed with dates lately.  It all started in April with the vegan caramels I whipped up--they were delicious.  Heavens, dates alone are delicious, I eat them like candy.  So when I saw the photograph and recipe at V.K. Rees Photography of salty date caramel, I had to give it a go.  You should too :)  The dip is rich and creamy, and the salt rounds out the flavor exquisitely. 

Baked Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

I went to bed last night resolved to wake up and go running.  I made donuts instead.  Fail.  Well, the run was a fail, the donuts were definitely a success--cakey, subtly sweet, and absolutely delicious.  Rich, chocolate glaze only sweetened the deal, literally.  Plus, they weren't that unhealthy... they use coconut oil instead of butter or vegetable oil, the vegan glaze has no added sugar, and they are dairy free.  So it's okay to skip my morning run to make donuts since they are kinda-sorta-remotely healthy... right?

Copy Cat Lara Bars

School has driven me to this thing I shamefully call the granola bar, fruit leather, and vitamin water diet.  How it works is I eat a smoothie for breakfast, and throw a variety of granola bars and fruit snacks in my bag for my lunch and dinner the rest of the day.  This habit is problematic for a few reasons... namely I get hungry and cranky, my groceries get expensive, and let's face it granola bars and dried fruit don't quite complete the food pyramid (whatever the current pyramid is filled up with).  Half of my grocery bill is typically made up of Luna bars, Cliff bars, Lara Bars, etc (Have you eaten the caramel nut brownie Luna bars?? oh my goodness they are divine.  And yes I know they aren't actually that healthy...)  Now, I realize I can't quite duplicate Luna's caramel nut brownie bar with ease, but I can copy Lara Bars with only a few simple ingredients.  And since I can... I did :)

Vegan "Caramels"

Earlier this week I had a final presentation in my intellectual property class, and because my professor basically told us we would receive A's if we brought the class food, I brought food.  Not just any food, Spoon Fork Bacon's Baked Apple Pie Egg Rolls with vanilla bean whipped cream and caramel sauce.  Now, let's not focus on the fact that my presentation was on a local company using a variation of the Apple logo... because let's face it bringing apple pie was basically irrelevant to what I was talking about... the more important fact was they they were incredibly delicious, everyone loved them, and I got to sit and watch everyone rave about them and not eat any because they were full of dairy.  Curse my lactose intolerance.  Cue delicious, no sugar added, raw, vegan caramels-- I could seriously eat an entire batch of these babies.  I was skeptical, but I was proven wrong, incredibly, deliciously wrong.  Just try them.

Thai Panang Beef Curry

So, I could live on rice, Nutella, fruit, and cereal--and be incredibly happy.  I am however, dating a carnivore.  So while my idea of a perfect curry is loads of veggies and a light sauce, Mr. Meat is not as fond of water chestnuts, kale, and carrots.  Hence, a rich, flavorful curry with strictly meat.  Even with my preference for veggies, this was really, really tasty.

Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

There are a few food words that make me feel fancy: ganache, coulis, aioli, compote... I like'm.  And if I can toss them into the description of whatever I am making, I suddenly feel like a legitimate cook.  (I won't even venture to use the word chef, that's simply laughable.)  Pesto is one of these words.  For some reason pesto just sounds kinda fancy, you know?  And while I'm at it I'll toss my pesto on some bruschetta or capatavi or oriochette.  Or in english- this stuff tastes great smeared on some toast, or over a bowl of funny shaped noodles.  Personally, I enjoy mine with wheat rotini and sauteed veggies.

Mini Chocolate Donuts with Maple Glaze... and Bacon

There is a reason I set myself a curfew in the kitchen: No baking past 8:00pm.  These donuts are what happens when I break curfew.  Since just making donuts wasn't bad enough, I had to coat them in finger-licking good maple glaze... and top them off with bacon.  I nearly resorted to licking the drips of glaze off the counter (granted I may also occasionally eat marshmallow fluff by the spoonful so maybe I'm a bad measure of irresistability).  But in all seriousness, these little calorie bombs are tasty--the sweet maple and salty bacon unite dynamically, all atop a mini chocolate donut.  Perfection.

Oh yeah, and did I mention you get to cheat and use a cake mix? Mhmmmm!

Tempeh Nuggets

Tempeh Nuggets, sounds incredibly delectable no? 

Well, they were actually surprisingly delicious.  These babies were the result of my craving wings on the way home from learning to break dance tonight (yes... break dance...  It was AWESOME).  Rather then stopping for unhealthy fast food (I'm trying this thing called self-control), I decided I should make seitan nuggets when I got home instead, since I had a lub of seitan in the fridge.  I had my recipe all planned out, only to get home and discover I had tempeh, not seitan in my fridge. (It's all the same to me...)  Since I'm lazy and stubborn, I just went ahead and did the exact same thing I intended to do with my seitan to my tempeh.  Generally speaking, it is recommended to boil or steam your tempeh first, but let's face it, that's another dirty dish--so I didn't.  Even then, these little morsels were crunchy, pleasantly flavored, and an ideal transportation mechanism for barbeque sauce.  Success.

Non-Dairy Keylime Pie

 There are a few desserts characterized particularly by the dairy ingredients in them... like cheesecake, ice cream, pudding, and key lime pie.  For real, key lime pie is so great because of the heavenly, rich texture and subtle sweetness contributed by glorious sweetened condensed milk.  I could eat that stuff by the spoonful, crap I could eat it by the ladle-ful... if I didn't feel sick to my stomach 13 minutes later.  Therefore, the idea of attempting a non-dairy key lime pie was pretty daunting.  UNTIL my mom told me about Trader Joe's non-dairy cream cheese, which is actually super delicious (and generally speaking, I find fake dairy stuff totally repulsive.  Have you ever tried veggie cheese? Blehhh it's like trying to melt a makeup sponge on your food...).  Suddenly, a new dimension of desserts was opened to me, and this is a very happy dimension. 

Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi Sandwiches

 Just like style, there are food trends.  And Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches are hip right now.  I wish I could pull the "yeah I've known about these forever, they're nothing new because I'm so knowledgeable of all things cultural and culinary..." card, but I can't.  I can, however, claim that Vietnamese food has been my favorite for a long while now, and I am super stoked that it is finally receiving the media it deserves.  Banh Mi are an approachable medium for Vietnamese food to take- I mean who doesn't love a sandwich?  I also appreciate that there are so many varieties to choose from, and no real wrong way to go about creating your own banh mi.  That being said, some ways just taste better, like this way :)

Green Papya Salad

This tangy, refreshing salad is an easy introduction to Vietnamese cuisine.  With only a few simple ingredients, it is bursting with flavor.  Try it as a side, or toss some grilled shrimp on it to make it a complete meal.