Friday, January 16, 2009

ultra health, for the ultra in all of us

I don't remember what prompted the lasagna. Something prompted it... oh yeah! Friends came over eating giant gloppy plates of cheesy tvp-veggie lasagna last saturday and it stuck in my mind. Then I woke up on sunday slightly hungover and thinking that making lasagna would be a kind of ideal and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. I was right, too... so laid back this was. I made some tofu ricotto with fresh basil and a roasted red pepper sauce with nutmeg, then layered with whole wheat noodles, sliced mushrooms, zucchini, loads of swiss chard, and some ground up almonds, sesames and lemon zest on top. It turned out so exactly like I wanted - fresh and vegetabley and clean, and hearty too! I ended up eating most of it cold, too, like the risotto.

Later on... I haven't actually been baking all that much lately, but I figured maybe trying to make a single cookie might amuse me and get some chocolate into my system, so last night I tried. Here's the measurements, in case you're curious...

dry ingredients:
1 tbsp ground up oats (I used my fingers to grind)
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp unsweetened coconut
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of baking soda
pinch of chinese 5-spice powder
wet ingredients:
2" of banana, mushed to a pulp
1/2 tsp canola oil
splash of vanilla soymilk (if needed)

12 chocolate chips

** Add wet to dry, bake @ 350 for 12-15 minutes, until it's glossy and browned. Would be mad good with tea and apple juice methinks.

It's more like a chewy muffin top than a cookie per se (doubling the sugar might get you a cookier cookie), but I loved it as a near-guiltless snack. My next single cookie experiment will probably run along the lines of lemon-cranberry-almond. Come to think of it, does anyone have any delicious recipes for cranberries that aren't too indulgent dessert-like? For some amazing reason they're on for $1 a bag at my favourite grocery store and I can't think of a darned thing I want to do with them besides eat them out of the freezer and add them to oatmeal. Maybe cranberry bars? I just don't want to make them into something too sugary...

Oh yeah, speaking of good deals... I found 72% organic non-animal tested moisturizer and actual Scharffen Berger chocolate at the dollar store! The labels are ever-so-slightly off center and the bars are maybe 1 degree convex, like they'd been warm for a second, and I am a happy girl to take the misfit chocolate under my wing. Er, teeth. Yummy. (actually, verdict is I like Lindt better, but it's nice and fruity with a bit of pepper and I'd like to make a sauce with it maybe)


Yesterday I made some of Melanie's wonderful hummus, quinoa and broccoli soup. That particular combination got stuck in my head the moment I saw it, and I thought adding 2 cups of hummus to a soup pot was pretty novel. I added tomatoes to it today and loved it even more, but I could probably add tomatoes to ice cream and I would think it improved. :P
I also feel like mentioning that after finishing this bowl I felt just inexplicably amazing. Really, really good and energized, like my belly was a rotating rose. Wish I'd made more!

21 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

OOOOOOOOH.

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

you are so cute, btw. :D

Anonymous said...

Cranberries are great in dal. Here's a recipe:

http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2009/01/06/cranberry-dal/

Nicole said...

I love that you made a recipe for one cookie for yourself! I'm going to try this, but in the microwave!

Anonymous said...

The lasagne looks great - perfect hang over food.
I love the idea of the one cookie - because, you really don't need 12 right?

VeganCowGirl said...

I really need to make some lasagna! That looks great. I am going to look up a recipe for tofu ricota right NOW!

Thanks for the cookie recipe. Num Num.

Stay warm!

Myriostoma said...

If you have Vegan with a Vengeance substitute frozen cranberries for the blueberries in the 'Sunny Blueberry-Corn Muffins' recipe. With cranberries, these muffins remind me of Thanksgiving.

Triss Teh said...

All right, that does it.
I am going to learn how to cook damn it.

Anonymous said...

You forgot super delicious and super good looking. Oh yum!

MeloMeals said...

Your lasagna looks and sounds delicious!

Love the one cookie idea.. makes perfect sense to me.

So glad you liked the soup!

Anonymous said...

I love eating cold leftover lasanga.

Baking just one cookie at a time is a good idea, I need to try this. Sometimes I want something sweet, but I don't like being tempted by the remaining 2 dozen cookies laying around.

Anonymous said...

Yum! I love lasagna, it's so delicious. That soup looks really amazing, too.

Unknown said...

i love the idea of baking one cookie - hilarious! (did you use a toaster oven?)
i suspect less banana would make it less muffiny.

jessy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jessy said...

i'm gonna have to try out that soup! i would have never thought to put hummus in soup - it sounds so good!

that's too awesome on making a single cookie! i really need to try doing that. i always make a big batch then freeze the leftovers, but then i find myself digging around in the freezer eating all the damn cookies anyways. the idea for a single cookie = brilliant! thanks!

might i just add that your lasagna looks so awesome - and sounds sooooooo glorious! roasted red pepper sauce AND swiss chard - say no more! mmmmmmmmmmmm!

huzzah on the dollar store finds, too! that rocks so hard! :)

Jes said...

I kindof have a craving for tomato ice cream now...or maybe hummus ice cream... :)

Soup, lasagna, single cookie, oh my! I've been too lazy to tackle lasagna, but you've inspired me to maybe start gearing up for it. Maybe. Ok, yeah, never mind, you convinced me!

aTxVegn said...

I saw Mel's soup and thought it looked great too - thanks for confirming!

Your lasagna sounds perfectly delicious and it sure turned out great.

I would never think to bake one cookie, much less come up with a recipe for one, so thank you for that. You are so clever and your food posts always look amazing!

Anonymous said...

Those are some seriously good looking oatmeal cookies! Everyone knows that the best part of the muffin is the top, so I'd much rather have one of these than a whole muffin anyways. :)

Kay said...

I had a cranberry/orange/date square a couple of times, from The Wild Oat.. super incredibly delicious, and all raw ingredients.
I think the base was ground almonds and dates blended together, and the wonderful mouthwatering goo on top was just cranberries, oranges and (soaked)dates, blended together also.
O, it was scrumtpious! I can taste it now..
Also, I've made cranberry applesauce for breakfast before, sweetened with maple syrup. Just blend everything together(it's kind of a trademark method I guess! :)
Happy concocting!
K

Anonymous said...

Haha, i tried to re-size a recipe from 6 dozen cookies down to 6... didn't work so well, it was a really weird texture. Bravo for trying it for just one cookie!

Vaala ◪ said...

Oh wow! That lasagna looks amazing and I keep hearing about this hummus soup so I've gotta try that too. Your photos are making me drool!