Natasha Fraycat's Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I did something I've never done before, I baked without a recipe. I've been getting more comfortable cooking free style but baking is more complicated. This morning was different. I woke up feeling inspired.
I figured it would be best to start simple so I wrote down the basic make up of a chocolate chip cookie. After some research on the purpose of eggs and figuring out the difference between baking powder and baking soda, I came up with my perfect chocolate chip cookie !
I'm so proud of my litte ol' self :) I'm finally taking my knowledge and applying it to my own creations, how exciting! The baking possibilities are endless now.

Ingredients
Spelt Flour- 1 cup
Cinnamon- 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg- 1/4 tsp
Baking Powder- 1/2 tsp
White Sugar- 1/4 cup
Brown Sugar- 1/3 cup
Earth Balance vegan butter- 1/2 cup
Ener-G egg replacer- 1 "egg"
Vanilla- 1/2 tsp + a dash more
Almond Milk- 1 tbsp
Rolled Oats- 1/2 cup
Vegan Dark Chocolate chips- 1/2 cup
Unsweetened Coconut shreds- 2 tbsp

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and baking powder in a separate bowl and put aside.

Mix on a low speed white sugar, brown sugar and butter for about 45 seconds.

Add the "egg" and mix for another 30 seconds.

Add the vanilla and almond milk and mix for another 30 seconds.

Add the dry mixture to the wet and mix on low until a dough forms, about 1 minute.

Fold in rolled oats until evenly mixed.

Fold in chocolate chips until evenly mixed.

Fold in the coconut shreds.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper and divide batter into small (golf ball) sized balls.  Make sure there is a distance of about 1 1/2 inches in between the balls of batter. Press the batter down with a fork. Put in the top rack of the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven or until edges of the cookies turn brown. Cool on a baking rack and enjoy :)


 (These cookies are not suitable for cats, Casey just likes smelling them)

Gluten Free Vegan Lemon Tart

Lately I've been busy making my own creations in the kitchen that I haven't been baking anything from my vegan cookbook. My family came over for Mother's Day so I took that opportunity to bake something for everyone. I really enjoy baking but I feel like I need to bake for some event, otherwise I end up with an overwhelming amount of dessert. I have been trying healthier alternatives to traditional dessert ingredients such as using agave nectar instead of refined sugar and using gluten free flours.

For mothers day I had a few dietary restrictions to keep in mind for my dessert. My dessert had to be vegan, gluten free and as low in sugar as possible. The dessert I decided to make was a vegan gluten free lemon tart. I was hesitant to make this tart because I really dislike lemon flavoured desserts, I figured since I was baking it, I could control the amount of lemon.  The lemon topping for the dessert was very much like a custard which turned out to be very easy to make as long as you followed the baking instructions. The recipe has yellow food colouring as an optional ingredient, I was trying to keep things natural, so I left out the food dye. My tart filling was a whitish colour that I found distracting because normally our over processed lemon desserts are bright yellow. There was a definite brain and visual confusion that quickly went away after the first bite.

Let's face it, I need to work on my food photography, cat photos I'm amazing, food not so much.  This photo was taken by my wonderful (cough not) cousin Christopher. 

This recipe was taken from Chloe's Vegan Cookbook. 

I made the gluten free alternative pie crust.

Ease of recipe: 4/5 

I found it very easy to make. I think the custard part of the dish could be a challenge to a new baker. 

Taste: 5/5

The dessert is light, low in calories and tasty. 

Friends/Family thoughts: 5/5

My picky family seemed to really enjoy it and they're vocal about taste ! 

Likely hood to remake recipe: 5/5
I would most definitely make the recipe again but next time I'd change the flavour of the custard to banana, raspberry or maybe even chocolate. 

Overall Cooking Experience: 5/5

I really enjoyed baking gluten free. I also liked making the custard because I've never made it before and I enjoy the challenge.

Bonus Casey Points: 0/1
Casey was not around to judge this recipe :(.


Final: 24/25

Awesome dessert. A must make!!!

Basil and Sun Dried Tomato Hummus

Summer is coming and that means barbecue season. For a vegan/vegetarian backyard get togethers with meat eaters can be difficult if you don't arrive prepared.  I recently had my first barbecue of 2013 and it was a great success. My meat eating friends prepared barbecue chicken and I made a tofu scramble on the stove. Together we prepared a variety of fresh veggies wrapped in tinfoil and marinated in salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic.  We put the veggies packed in tinfoil on the grill until they were cooked but still crunchy. I am always surprised how such simple ingredients can taste so delicious.
Recently I've been going through a sun dried tomato and fresh basil obsession, I've literally been adding them into everything, so it only made sense that I add it to my hummus. I've been making fresh hummus for years now and I feel like it surpasses the store bought kinds in taste and freshness. I never add oil to my hummus because the tahini is oily enough and I don't feel like you can even taste the olive oil.  After making this hummus I actually licked the food processor bowl... so needless to say this recipe is a success.

Chickpeas                   1 can
Chickpea water           1/2 can
Lemon Juice                2 lemons
Tahini                         1/3 cup
Fresh Basil                  8 leaves or to taste
Sun dried tomatoes     10
Garlic                          2 cloves chopped or to taste (I work with people so I can't put as mush in)
Salt                            1/2 teaspoon or to taste
Pepper                        1/2 teaspoon or to taste
Crushed Chili Peppers  (optional) 1/2 teaspoon or to taste

Drain out half the liquid in a can of chickpeas and add the chickpea water and chickpeas to a food processor or blender, blend until mixture is creamy. Add in the tahini and lemon juice and allow to mix for about 15 seconds. Add in fresh basil, sun dried tomatoes and chopped garlic and allow to mix for 15 seconds. Add in salt, pepper and chilis. Mix until smooth about 45 seconds. Taste test the hummus and add more of the "to taste" ingredients if necessary.
Allow to chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving. Garnish with chopped fresh basil and serve with chips or veggies.

Healthy Livin'

The juice cleanse is officially over and I'm back on solid foods again.  I managed to last just under two days. I had some salad and half of a lentil burger for dinner on the night of day two. Considering I was only consuming liquids, I had a lot of energy and was able to function. On the second day I went for two separate walks about 40 minutes each way and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out. On the morning of the cleanse I weighed in at 113lbs. 3 lbs of that was bloat because the night before I had half of a large pizza with creamy dipping sauce, my farewell to cheese. By the end of day two, I weighed in at 108lbs. The weight loss wasn't as drastic as last year when I did the broth cleanse but I could hardly walk on that one from lack of calories, so I would definitely recommend the juice cleanse as a realistic way to detox and kick start healthy living.
Post cleanse I am feeling great, I've started lifting weights every day and I've decided to try doing the plank for at least one minute per day. I'm not sure if this will actually do anything, I'm not interested in having washboard abs, I just want a little less tummy fat and slightly more definition. I will update you all (with pics possibly) if it actually starts working. The main reason I'm hesitant is that I'm so inconsistant with exercise but if I start with small goals and do the exercises during tv commercial breaks my body will start becoming more defined.  I figure it's better than nothing, right ?
Healthy living doesn't have to meal starving yourself or doing insane amounts of time at the gym.  It's all about portion control, healthy choices and consistant exercise. Alright I can talk the talk and I have my goals, now the only thing standing in the way of my success is me.

xo
tash

Juice Cleanse

I'm taking a pause from baking and doing a two (possibly three) day juice cleanse. Every year around this time I look at myself in the mirror and notice my winter weight... which really isn't anything being 5'1 and 110lbs but enough to make me want my summer bod back. I find it easier to kick start a diet by doing a liquid diet first. I am a vegetarian and I cook and eat as vegan as possible. I do have my cheat moments when the smell of a cheese pizza gets the best of me. For a few months every year I go completely vegan. I know I will get the judgement stares from the true 100% vegans but I do what I can and that means for me a few months out of the year completely vegan.
This juice cleanse will start off my diet for the coming months. I have decided to try Joe Cross' Reboot 3-day quick start juice cleanse. The recipes can be found http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/rebooting/plans

I'm at the end of day one and I noticed at around 7pm I started feeling hungry and really dizzy.  Another physical side effect I'm noticing is that my tongue is heavily coated with a thick white plaque, this is abnormal for me. At this point it doesn't concern me, I just pray I don't break out or get a hideous rash (again). Last year the back of my neck broke out with an awful detox rash.
The juice is giving me a ton of energy but it isn't long lived.  I'm hanging in there, craving ice cream and chips.  The nice part about the cleanse is the fresh juices turn the most beautiful colours and they don't taste bad either.... Except the tomato/red pepper drink, that was difficult to get through. I'm off to sleep now, I'll update you all tomorrow.

-tash

Whist-ler

I'm back from my trip and BC is as beautiful as I remember. My flight from Toronto left at 6:30am and I made the mistake of drinking coffee, so I did not sleep at all. After a long anxious flight I finally arrived and boarded the bus to Whistler. The moment the bus let Vancouver the scenery started to change, the trees got taller and the mountains more visible.  For the entire bus ride my mouth was open in awe, I did not expect it to be so gorgeous.

I did not ski while in whistler because the ski hills were actually terrifying and I had a funny feeling I would brake one of my limbs. The next time I go I'll muster up the courage and learn how to downhill ski. My friend and I did take a gondola tour up the mountain, the excitement of that was good enough for me.

 After that we headed to Victoria, more pics to come.

Pecans + sugar

Today is a very exciting day for me because in less than 24 hours I will be on an airplane heading for British Columbia :D. That's a west coast province in Canada, if I have an international readers who don't know Canada very well. I'm going to visit a friend and I'll take lots of photos to document my trip for the blog.
Over the weekend was Easter and I know I've mentioned before im not religious in any sense but I do like to take these opportunities to practice my baking. Normally I make a savoury dish as well as a sweet but I wasn't feeling inspired to cook. I ended up making vegan pecan squares from Chloe's cookbook.  They were fun for me to cook because I've never heated up sugar to make a sauce before and it was fun to try that for the first time. I doubled the recipe for the "goo" of the pecan square because there didn't seem to be enough. The squares ended up tasting really sweet and if I were to make them again, I would make a lot of changes to the recipe. The base of the squares are shortbread cookies, I would change it into a vegan pie crust. Second thing I would change is the sugar goo, the recipe called for three different kinda of sugar and it really came though in the taste. Next time I would experiment with agave to see if I could cut the sweetness.

I experimented with two different shapes. I made a pecan circle by lining mini cupcake tins with a cutout piece of parchment paper. 

Ease of recipe: 5/5
These square were very easy to make. It has really simple ingredients and a few steps, the hardest part is waiting for the squares to set in the fridge.

Taste: 2/5
This category lost points because of the sweetness. The flavour of the square is very delicious and I've eaten way to many over the past few days but the sweetness is overwhelming. I suggest not using the cookbooks recipe and making one yourself.

Friends/Family thoughts: 2/5
My friends and family thought they were too sweet. My Grandma said they tasted better out of the fridge for a bit. 

Likely hood to remake recipe: 4/5
I would remake this recipe again but changes would definitely need to be make. 

Overall Cooking Experience: 4/5

Bonus Casey Points: 1/1
I had the pecan sugar goo all over my fingers and Casey enjoyed licking it off. I guess it wasn't too sweet for Casey :).


Final: 18/25

I was disappointed with these squares because I love pecan treats. I have never attempted a pecan dessert and I was very excited to try it. It's not a complete loss because now I can make more tarts until the recipe tastes perfect.  I hope my friends and family don't mind being taste testers...