Quite possibly one of the best cookies I've ever had!

I really do have to get away from baking sweets, but I did it again. Last night before discovering and joining Dr. Fuhrman's Six Week Holiday Challenge I had already combined all the dry ingredients for the Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe Keri posted the other day over at her I Eat Trees blog. I figured I might as well go ahead and whip them up.

Please note, just because something is "vegan" it does not automatically mean that it's healthy. Cakes and cookies are essentially junk food and to be avoided or at least reserved for very special occasions, and I don't mean "let's celebrate, it's the weekend!"

Of course I wasn't going to eat any. Then I decided to have a very small piece so I'd know if they turned out okay. I took something of the equivalent of a 1 square inch piece to test it out. That little morsel sent my taste buds soaring into realms of delight! It tasted like toffee! Jon says they taste like a Skor bar! It just may be the best tasting most delectable cookie I've ever eaten! It's crunchy because it's not loaded with fat, but it's chewy at the same time. My teens gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up. [Don't get used to them kids!!]

Mine look kinda flat compared to Keri's much prettier specimens, but I'm figuring that's because instead of half the flour being whole wheat pastry flour, I used whole wheat flour. Where does a Canadian get whole wheat pastry flour anyway? Oh I just noticed that I forgot to flatten them slightly before putting them into the oven! No matter, they turned out really well, unfortunately.

Veggie Burgers, Caesar Salad Dressing, and Naturally Fat-Free Ice Cream!

Believe it or not, this meal absolutely had me stuffed! I could barely finish my cauliflower! I share the salad dressing recipe below.
The other evening I tried one of Dr. Fuhrman's recipes. I have his book, "Eat to Live". It put me on the track to becoming a vegan.

The recipe is for Walnut Lentil Veggie Burgers (recipe below). They were very yummy! I may add some more herbs and spices next time, maybe not. It has lots of potential for becoming outstanding!

Jon (hubby) really liked them, so much so that my hopes of having leftovers for another meal were dashed. They're pretty darn good. The kids ate theirs all up. They have definitely made it into our meal rotation.

They look a little overdone, but really they weren't.
Dr. Fuhrman's Walnut Lentil Veggie Burgers

Makes 8

2 cups onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced (I didn't have any)
5 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons VegiZest (I used 1 veggie bouillon cube in the water)
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
1-1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons no-salt added tomato paste
2 cups cooked lentils, drained
1-1/2 tablespoon ground flax seed
1-1/2 tablespoon raw sesame tahini
1-1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon no-salt mustard
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped (I used pecans)
1/4 cup oatmeal, ground
2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons parsley, minced (I used 1 Tbsp dried parsley)

Directions

Sauté onion, carrots, bell pepper and garlic in a large pan until softened, adding water, if necessary, to prevent sticking, about 5-6 minutes.

I sliced the carrots in the food processor, and then put in my S-blade and pulsed them until they were finely chopped
I prepared all the wet ingredients in advance (not including the tahini and mustard)
Add VegiZest, Italian seasonings, balsamic vinegar, water, tomato paste, and stir well. Simmer, covered, for about 5-7 minutes. Uncover and cook an additional 5 minutes until thick.

I mixed up all the dry ingredients up together. In hindsight, I should have processed the nuts a little finer
Transfer to a mixing bowl and let cool a few minutes. Add lentils and remaining ingredients and mix well by hand. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, or until ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a baking pan with oil. Take about a rounded 1/3 cup of the mixture, form into balls, and place on baking sheet. Using a moistened flat bottomed glass or jar, flatten balls into a burger shape. Bake for 12 minutes, turn over and bake an additional 12 minutes until lightly browned.

* Serves 8.

Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing

I have no idea where I got this recipe from! I have adapted it somewhat, that I do know. No matter, it's very yummy! As a nutritarian-vegan I have to limit my use of it due to the processed oil, but it's nice for an occassional fancy treat for the family (okay and me!).

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
2 Tbsp ground almonds
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp oil
1/8 tsp pepper
(I have yet to do this but you could add a pinch or two of salt)

With a hand mixer, combine the first 4 ingredients. It will form a paste. Beat in remaining ingredients--I usually combine them first and gradually pour it all in while beating.

Pour into small mason jar and refrigerate.

Moving onto ice-cream...

Who doesn't love ice cream?! Take a look at this dish of scrumptious non-dairy fat free ice cream down yonder. It's frosty and creamy, everything you'd expect from a really good soft ice cream. It's Dr. Fuhrman's Banana Fluff recipe with a little unsweetnened cocoa powder thrown in.

I don't have a VitaMix yet, but I did well using my food processor. I tried using my blender but it could not deal with the frozen banana even though I had broken in up into 1" pieces before freezing. You'll need 1 banana per serving.

I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for more non-dairy frozen dessert recipes!

I detest flash photography but
the urge to try this recipe
struck at night!
Chocolate Banana Fluff

1 serving

1 frozen chopped or broken up banana*
1/4 cup almond, rice, or other non-dairy milk
a splash of vanilla extract
2 tsp cocoa powder (next time we're upping it to 1 Tbsp)

Throw it all in your food processor or high-powered blender and process until smooth. Pulsing it seems to help. Dish out and enjoy!

My teens loved it even though they're not big fans of banana. What a great way to treat your little ones to a healthy frozen dessert!

*do this a day ahead, peel and chop up (if you just have a food processor like me) a ripe banana, throw into a ziploc baggie and toss in freezer.

A Nutritarian Six-Week Holiday Challenge

I'm very excited! Today is day 1 of Dr. Fuhrman's Six-Week Holiday Challenge! I'm all signed up and ready to be faithful to the Eat to Live Program. It runs from November 20th to December 31st. You can join up to and including December 4th. It involves signing up to become a member, which is free for 6 weeks. Then you'll be charged $14.95 per month to continue, but you can cancel any time via e-mail. It's a $45 value because the first 6 weeks are usually $44.95. This free membership also includes Dr. Fuhrman's Vook (internet browser) version of his newly revised edition of Eat to Live. It's pretty cool and includes video clips. I already own it, and can tell you it's great! It put me on the path to really consider what I was putting into by body. Next thing you know I'm a full fledged vegan!

And why wouldn't I be excited about the challenge?! This means I don't have to gain a pound this Christmas and can maintain my 10lb weight loss. Imagine?!

This is just what I needed. I admit I was getting lured away by vegan baking recipes. They often call for a lot of sugar and oil. I've got to get back to eating a super clean wholesome unprocessed plant-based diet! Only then will I get that slim and healthy bod I'm working towards!

If you're not family with Dr. Fuhrman, here's a great introduction to Eat to Live. He also mentions the mistake many vegans make. Watch and find out!

Another reason why I've stopped eating meat

Here in Canada, our Thanksgiving holiday is long gone. Christmas is coming, and turkey is our traditional celebratory meal, but at what price?

Turkeys rescued from slaughter houses
Yesterday, Alicia Silverstone, a fellow vegan, posted the YouTube video at the bottom of this post at her blog, The Kind Life.


I initially cut meat out of my diet for it's health benefits and to avoid disease down the road. I suppose it was inevitable as I traveled the vegan road that I would come to find out just how cruel the meat industry is. Surely God never intended for animals to be treated inhumanely so we could eat them!


How naive I used to be, having visions of the beef I ate coming from a cow that used to live out in a pasture. Not that I ever thought that. The sad thing is that I never thought about it at all.


Some may scoff under the assumption that some animals are stupid and clueless and therefore subject to any kind of treatment we wish to inflict upon them.

If you have a pet, consider this:

"Many people think of turkeys as little more than holiday centerpieces, but turkeys are social, playful birds who enjoy the company of others. They relish having their feathers stroked and like to chirp, cluck, and gobble along to their favorite tunes. Anyone who spends time with them on farm sanctuaries quickly learns that turkeys are as varied in personality as dogs and cats." - Peta.org

The video is hard to watch, but the last half is hopeful because of the work of Farm Sanctuary. Please consider being brave and watching this video, or the one below it. It was never supposed to come to this.


If you'd like a more sanitized version, and I don't blame you if you do, this is a sweet video (for the most part):

Robin Robertson's "Comfort Loaf" = pure bliss

(take a peek inside here)
This arrived in the mail the other day. It's my very first vegan cookbook purchase, Robin Robertson's Vegan on the Cheap. I'm tickled to have it! Someone in one of my healthy eating email groups mentioned one of it's recipes with much fondness: Comfort Loaf. Curious, I did some googling and came to find out that it is one popular cookbook among the meat and dairy free! You can check out Robin's blog here.

Along with this one I also ordered Robin's Vegan Planet. I had to spend a little more to get free shipping after all!

Having the beloved Comfort Loaf recipe now at my disposal, I went right to work. I've only been a vegan for 2 weeks and yet I already had on hand everything the recipe called for, except for pinto beans. I subbed red kidney beans for those. Other than that I followed the recipe to a T.

My naturally non-stick skillet. Using it also includes an upper body workout what with the heaviness of it! Bonus!

Uncooked it looks like it couldn't end up being anything but very tasty!
How'd we like it?

It's amazing. I mean knock your socks off amazing. I want to eat slabs and slabs of it until I'm ill. Seriously, it makes me feel happy. Comfort loaf indeed. Jon wants me to make it EVERY week. He says its the best not-meatloaf he's ever had. Heck I never even had meatloaf this good! We didn't even put anything on it, no gravy, no ketchup, no nothin', it's that good. We can't stop talking about it.

Wanna see it?

Here it is below. It's not the loaf's fault, it was my stupid icky sticky loaf pan that I did grease. I turned the loaf pan upsidedown to gently let it slip out so it could cool. All of the edges stuck to the sticky layer of stuff on my non-stick loaf pan and the innards vacated onto the cooling rack. I don't blame the thing, I would have jumped out too. You see I used to use it to cook potatoes in oil in the oven (hello clogged arteries). The thing is going into the garbage. Shoulda used parchment paper. Jon said he's going to buy me a glass one. I've grown to love glass bakeware.

Totally my fault it looks like this. Old loaf pan is being replaced with a glass one a.s.a.p! No matter what it looks like, it was delicious!
Needless to say, I'm extremely happy to have this cookbook in my collection. Cheap and super tasty meals for the whole family? What more could I ask for!

Very Yummy Salad Dressing Recipe

Not much to write, and nothing to show you, except this link below which will lead you to a recipe for a very yummy and easy vinaigrette. I combined everything using my electric hand mixer which really blended things very well. Hours after making it the oil and vinegar etc. hadn't separated much. Check it out!

Better Than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette

Lilibeth's Easy Vegan Cornbread Stuffing

by the time I thought of taking a photo, there wasn't much left!
Lilibeth's Easy Vegan Cornbread Stuffing

What a great taste cornbread gives stuffing! I had no idea!

1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup celery (including inner leaves), finely chopped
1 Tbsp oil
2 half-inch thick slices whole wheat bread*
1/2 a square pan of Dr. Neal Barnard's Cornbread (or other vegan cornbread)
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp. ground thyme
1/4 tsp. granulated onion
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 cup hot vegan chicken broth (I used a vegan bouillion cube in water)

*I used homemade bread machine bread

Preheat oven 200 for lightly toasting the bread.

Measure all herbs and salt into a small bowl. Toss with your hand to blend together. Set aside.

Prepare your broth and set aside.

Cut off crust from whole wheat bread. Cut each slice into 4 long sections. Slice cornbread in similar fashion. You basically want them to be ready to lightly dry in the oven and it helps to have them cut up somewhat.

Spread on cookie sheet. I actually used one of those pizza pans with holes in it. "Toast" them until moderately dry, but not to the point where it actually becomes toasted. The cornbread may need 5 or 10 minutes extra.

Turn oven up to 350.

Cut these into little 1/2" cubes. This should give you a little more than 4 cups. Place in large mixing bowl. Toss with the herb mixture.

Saute the onions and celery in the oil until onions are transparent. Add to bread mixture and mix well.

Adding the broth: I ended up using about 3/4 cup. I pour some in, blend, and continue this until it seems moist but not too moist. Mix everything together well. I let this mixture sit for over an hour for the bread to soak up the flavours, but this was only due to the fact that I had it all ready too early for supper! The cornbread kind of "dissolved" into everything, but this gave the whole things a wonderful cornbread'ish taste!

Place all in a greased, or better yet a parchment paper lined 8x8 square pan. Bake 25 minutes covered, and 10 min. or so covered. You want it to start to look golden on top. You can bake it longer if you prefer a drier stuffing.