Thai dinner and cookies

No, those 2 things don't go together in one meal!  But I made them in one day and both were a great success!!!

Actually, I know, I'm long overdue with posting another recipe, so here goes a little overload! ;-)

With Halloween coming up next week, I felt it was time to make some festive cookies -much to the delight of my two kids! *lol*

I've been using this recipe for vegan sugar cookies for a few years now, long before I even became a 'fullgrown' vegan and it never disappointed!

It's from 'Vegan Family Favorites' by Erin Pavlina, another great vegan cookbook!

I've modified the recipe a bit since I actually love using coconut oil in baked goods (I get the 54 oz Nutiva organic extra virgin coconut oil) and it looks as follows.

~* Modified Vegan Sugar Cookies *~

Ingredients

Dough:

*3/4 c coconut oil 

*3/4 c sugar

*Egg replacer for 2 eggs (flax seeds or Ener-G)

*1/4 tsp vanilla extract

*2 1/2 c flour

*1 tsp salt

*1 tsp baking powder

Frosting:

*2-3 Tbsp soy, almond or any plant milk

*Dash of salt

*1/2 tsp vanilla extract

*1 1/2-2 c powdered sugar

*3 Tbsp coconut oil or vegan butter [I've done frostings without this and it worked just as well!]

*Add coloring if you wish

Directions:

1) Mix oil and sugar in a mixing bowl, add vanilla and egg replacer

2) Sift flour and baking powder, add the salt

3) Gently mix dry ingredients with the wet ones until it forms a soft dough

4)Cover with plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge between 2-4 hrs or even over night. [You might have to take it out a bit in advance before wanting to make the cookies as the dough will be hard as a brick!]

5) Preheat oven to 350 F degrees (180 C)

6) Roll out dough to desired thickness and use cookie cutters to form shapes

7) Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for ~8-10 minutes. Let them cook on a rack.

Once the cookies are cooled, beat the frosting ingredients; adding the milk until it's reached the desired consistency.

Spread it on the cooled cookies, adding sprinkles or other deco, 

done! =)

Fresh out of the oven :)

I didn't take pics of the frosted cookies as they honestly didn't look soo pretty anymore after my kids got their hands on with decorating them in purple and orange frosting *lol*, but the taste was good and they had fun, that's all that matters, right? =)

*~*~*~

Next I have to post about my great Thai dinner, which was a first for me!

Believe it or not, I never ate out in a Thai restaurant before! (I was once in Thailand as a child, but honestly can't remember and doubt at that age I ate anything else but hamburgers and fries..*blush*)

I was always intrigued when I read about Peanut Noodles so I finally grabbed a package of Phillipine 'Pancit' noodles and created a dish!

 ~* Spicy Peanut Noodles with Smoky Tofu *~

Ingredients:

*1 Package of Pancit noodles

*1/2 c Peanut butter

*1 Tbsp sesame oil

*1 Tbsp soy sauce

*2 Tbsp lime juice

*2-3 Tbsp chili garlic sauce 

*1 Package firm tofu, drained & pressed [I had mine frozen and then defrosted]

*1-2 Tbsp lemon juice

*2 Tbsp sugar

*2 Tbsp soy sauce

*1/4 tsp liquid smoke

*1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Directions:

1)Soak Pancit noodles for 5-10 minutes in a bowl of cold water.

2) Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan, add the soaked noodles, fry for a few minutes

3) Prepare the peanut butter sauce with the sesame oil, lime juice and garlic chili sauce.

4) Once the noodles are fried, toss with the spicy peanut butter sauce.

For the tofu:

1) Preheat oven to 425 F (~220 C) degrees 

2) Cut the tofu in strips length-wise so that you have slim 'cutlets'

3) Mix the lemon juice, sugar, soy sauce, liquid smoke and nutritional yeast together and brush each 'cutlet' from both sides carefully

4) Place on a baking sheet covered with a nonstick mat [I assume parchment paper would work as well] and bake for ~20 minutes, then flip them and bake for another 10 minutes.

The cutlets should be brown but not burned, obviously.

!Hint: 

The tofu absorbed a lot of the marinade, so it might be advisable to actually double the recipe! 

I'll have to play around with it and see how I can create some form of 'glaze'.. (If you know how, please share your secret with me!!! :) ) Over all it was really tasty and I look forward to having it on my sandwich tomorrow, together with some eggplant that I roasted today as well!

I served the tofu together with the Pancit noodles as well as some sugar snap peas and my husband wouldn't stop raving about it! :D

No pics of the entire dish, the family was too fast and hungry! =)

The 3 C's... Chocolate Chip Cookies!

It's about time I'm blogging about this recipe!

I've made it the other day for the first time and my entire family raved about it!

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies!? Actually, that's another thing I really only started to familiar with once my husband introduced me to it! In Germany we have tons of other cookies, but I don't think the chocolate chip ones are famous.. at least not when I lived there (I grew up in many other countries and have been living abroad now for so long, I sometimes can't really remember!).

Anyway, after having splurged on quite a few (one could also say a lot.. depending if you count several shipments from Amazon all together! *lol*) new vegan cookbooks, I had to try one in particular when I had a major sweet tooth going on!

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's chocolate chip cookies from 

'The Joy of Vegan Baking'. 

I alternated the recipe a bit and got 2 dozen cookies out of it instead of only 1 dozen. (They're still big!)

~* Colleen's Chocolate Chip Cookies *~

Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients:

*4 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer [I used 2 Tbsp flax seeds, 1 Tbsp cornstarch + 6 Tbsp water]

*1 cup vegan butter [I used 3/4 c coconut oil]

*3/4 c white sugar [I cut it down to 1/2 c]

*3/4 c firmly packed brown or light brown sugar[cut down to 1/2c]

*2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour

*1 tsp baking soda

*1-2 c nondairy semisweet chocolate chips [1 c for me]

*1 c chopped nuts, optional [I had none]

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C for 15 minutes. If using a non stick pan greasing is not necessary, otherwise use parchment paper to line the cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the vegan butter [or coco oil], granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.
3. In a food processor/blender whip together the egg replacer powder and water together [same goes if you use flax seeds], until it’s thick and creamy. Add this mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, combine thoroughly.
4. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
5. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture until it begins to form a dough.
6. When it is almost thoroughly combined stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using.
7. I greased a tablespoon to scoop the dough and drop it easily onto the baking sheet.
8. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. [Mine took a little longer]
9. Let stand for 2 minutes on the baking sheet itself. Then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely before storing

~*~*~*~

Guten Appetit! =)

Pumpkin Curry with Red Lentils

A few other vegans from a group on Goodreads, Vegan_Cooking_Cookbooks & I have come up with the idea to have a little cooking challenge, all of us using one main ingredient, for which the pumpkin was chosen.

I will add the links to the other members' blogs later on as well, so you can see more pumpkin dishes! ;-) 

I've never cooked savory foods with pumpkin, so I was intrigued to come up with a dish!

After spending a while online and surfing through a couple of recipes, I found one that looked just perfect!  ;-) I absolutely love my other Chickpea Curry, so the idea of making a curry with pumpkin sounded perfect! 

I don't know what this pumpkin is called exactly, but after my kids were so disgusted by its look with all the 'pimples', it's now called a "Pimply Pumpkin" in our household *lol*

Pumpkin Curry with Red Lentils

Ingredients:

*1 small pumpkin 

*3-4 carrots, diced

*1 onion, diced

*~1 tsp of minced garlic or 1 clove of fresh garlic

*1 Tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

*1 c red lentils

*~3-5 c vegetable broth (or water)

*1 can of (lite) Coconut milk

*1 Tbsp curry powder

*Salt, pepper, celery salt to taste

Directions:

Step 1) Rub pumpkin with olive oil and some kosher salt and put in the oven at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for ~20 mins or until an inserted knife comes out easily

Step 2) While the pumpkin is in the oven, dice the onion and add to a heated pan [I used my pressure cooker] with the EVOO until they look glassy (~5 min). Add the garlic and let it cook for another minute.

Step 3) Add the diced carrot together with the curry powder to the onion-garlic mix, maybe a splash of water, and mix around. Let the mix cook for another minute or so.

Step 4) Add the red lentils and broth (you might need more then 3 cups possibly), close the lid of your pan [or in my case pressure cooker] and let everything cook until lentils and the carrots are done. [For the pressure cooker it only takes a few minutes, ~5]

Step 5) Once everything is cooked, add the coconut milk (I scoop the top part off and use it in order to get the thick part), taste and voila! :)

Serve with Couscous or Basmati rice (I prefer the latter but we didn't have any anymore so I used couscous).

Guten Appetit! =)