Monday, March 26, 2012

Quinoa Salad & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made chocolate chip cookies for the Super Bowl this year, just to prove yet again that vegan sweets can be just as good as the 'normal' ones! I adapted this recipe from one I found on allrecipes.com, made some changes and came out with a great recipe for soft, perfectly cooked tasty cookies! I began by creaming together the earth balance butter substitute, brown sugar, and white sugar until thoroughly combined. Next I added the instant pudding mix, then added the egg replacer and vanilla and combined. Lastly, I mixed in the flower and the chocolate chips- I am a HUGE fan of raw cookie dough, and I must admit that it was incredibly hard to stop 'tasting' this.....so yummy! I used a large spoon to drop cookies onto a sheet and put in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes. They smelled and tasted incredible- I would highly encourage you to make these!!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1-1/4 cup whole wheat all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup earth balance, softened
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
  • 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
  • 2 eggs worth of Ener-G egg subsitute
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips
One of my friends posted this recipe for Quinoa salad on pinterest and I had to make it! I simply made the quinoa with the vegetable stock, and combined everything together once that was cooked. So simple, so delicious (quite an unusual flavor!), but has made a few of my friends into new quinoa fans!

Avocado Lemon Quinoa Cilantro Chickpea Salad
1/2 C. dry quinoa
2 C. vegetable stock
1 can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
1 c. cherry tomatoes cut in half
2 avocados diced (I used 1 'Slimcado')
2 C. spinach
1 bunch cilantro
1/4 C. onion (finely diced)
2 small cloves garlic

For the dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp. dijon mustard
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin