Peanut Butter Ball Improv

I needed a little something this afternoon (this is a common trait of mine, no?) to go with my cup of decaf cafe au lait.  So I got the food processor down and started pulling ingredients that sounded good.  No recipe, just improv for food.  The results are delicious!  Very peanut buttery with a base of oats and almond meal, a touch of chocolate -two ways- and coconut just because.

Here's what went into them:

1/2 cup oats, ground to a coarse meal in the food processor
1/2 cup peanut butter, crunchy
1 Tablespoon almond meal
1 Tablespoon unsweetened coconut
1 Tablespoon chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons almond milk
1 teaspoon agave syrup

All the above blended up in the food processor and then molded into little balls. This made 14 Tablespoon size goodies.

Cookie Monster Goes Raw

There are a total of six cookie monsters in this house.  The first and foremost would be Mark - my
hollow-legged skinny pole of a husband.

(Really I DO feed him and his mother had to swear the same thing and his sister, Meri, will most likely have to say the same thing about one (or both) of our nephews - they seem to be taking after their Uncle Mark. I'll feel for Meri when she has to start feeding those boys through their teenage years!)

The next cookie monster on the list would be Ginger.  If a cookie comes out, she's quick to try and steal, beg or otherwise let it be known that she things all cookies belong to her.  She's a tortoise-shell tabby with the attitude to match her striking good looks.  She occasionally gets a cookie crumb and a reminder that she's an obligate carnivore and if she eats too much grain things get messy. (This IS a food blog so I won't get anymore detailed.)

Then comes Tigger (the loud mouth) and his sister Tipsy.  These two grey striped monsters are always on the lookout for a stray cookie or crumb or whatever they can get their nosey little whiskers into.

Now Jazz, she's a different story.  She would quickly forgo the cookie to get her pink little tongue into the glass of milk that goes with it.  This cat will drink coffee if it has milk or cream in it.  When you go to the coffee pot and start to make coffee she gets all excited and under foot because she KNOWS that the milk will soon come out of the fridge and I have been a sucker enough times to make a nuisance into a monster.  Heaven help this cat if I were to ever go Vegan!

And the sixth cookie monster?  Well, that's me.  I've been known during times of bad behavior to have a cookie or two for breakfast.  Shame on me.

Having cookies for breakfast may not be such a bad thing now that I've discovered the glories of Raw Cookies, thanks to Averie over at Love Veggies and Yoga.  That woman is always posting up the most delicious ideas and recipes and so far I've tried out the Raw Vegan Peanut Butter Protein Bars - they were good.  Then I made a version of her Raw Oatmeal Raisin Cookies which turned out way to cinnamon-y for the likes of me but they were right up my husband's alley - the guy is a cinnamon freak.  I made these with raisins as the base and learned that it would be better to soak the raisins first. I had to add water to get a workable dough.  I honestly wonder if 2 T of cinnamon is a typo*...but Mark loved them anyway.  I have to make more for him asap, I've been informed.  (I don't have a puppy-dog, but who needs one when you have a husband that is so good at puppy-dog eyes?!)

Since the first batch of cookies didn't turn out to my liking I decided to play with the recipe a bit.  Averie gives lots of options for ways to switch it up with the raw cookies.  I ended up using dates as my base, and added coconut and only a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon but more than a splash of vanilla and ooh la la I got a winner!  I LOVE these cookies.  These little cookies are packed with good for you stuff.  On my last trip to the co-op I picked up some raw chocolate nibs that are SO going into my next batch.  To top it all off, these cookies are SO easy to make - I can't wait to get one of the nephews over here to help me make a batch.  They'll learn baking from mom and grandma and un-baking from Aunt Maurie - what well rounded kids (culturally, that is) they'll be!

* Thanks to Averie for stopping by in the comments and pointing out my oops.  I had doubled the recipe - that's where I got the 2 from.  But even worse was how I read Tsp as Tablespoon.  It comes from the way my mom always wrote recipes:

Big "T" "for tablespoon and little "t" for teaspoon.

I saw the capital T and my brain said Tablespoon and ignored the rest of the letters - even after double checking!  Silly me!

Inspiration from Others

I've been reading blogs for a long time now. I enjoy the variety that's out there and I especially enjoy those that inspire others to live life to the fullest by mixing things up and encouraging folks to try to knew things. Among those kinds of blogs are a few that inspire me to keep exploring the deliciousness of cooking and eating in all its wondrous variety. Some focus more on local cuisine like one of my old favorites Mixed Greens Blog. I've been reading this blog off and on for several years and I always found it amazing when I would visit to catch up on their beautiful posts that many of my posts were along similar lines. Maybe it's because we both live in the Northwest and are tied to the local, sustainable and seasonable way of life. It happened again recently when checking in from a longer than usual absence. Though this blog is not specifically vegetarian it features many foods that are and if you don't come away envying their food photography, I'll know something is wrong with you. A recent post of there's also reminded me of why I can only claim to be 98% vegetarian and not an absolute purist. But maybe only someone who grew up on local shellfish would understand.

A blog I more recently came upon that inspires me is The Voracious Vegan. I'm not a vegan, though many of the meals I prepare are, but this nice lady makes veganism very approachable through her wonderful and creative food posts. And if anyone is inspiring others - she is. You should read all about The Great Vegan Challenge of 2010 where her dad (a very open-minded fellow I might add) had some amazing breakthroughs while eating vegan for three weeks - all meals lovingly prepared by his awesome daughter. I think most people would wish they had such open-minded and willing family and friends when it comes to trying out new ways of eating and living. I for one am very eager to try The Voracious Vegan's Chicken Fried Seitan. Nearly all pre-packaged mock meats out there have yeast in them and since my intolerance to yeast is still alive and vicious having some recipes to try home-made versions is very welcome. I've had seitan before and really liked it and this recipe sounds great. I would love to try it in a vegan version of "Chicken" Marsala - loaded with mushrooms and gravy over mashed potatoes. Oh yum!

Another blog I've been reading regularly these days is Love Veggies and Yoga. And it was a recipe from this blog that I recently tried for myself. My own variation of Averies No Bake Vegan Choc Chip Protein Bars. Now I'm constantly making muffins for Mark - he loves them. But I only feel so-so about muffins and much prefer something that doesn't have any leavening for a snack - like chewy granola bars. Well these are like that, only raw. Though Averie does mention that they could be dehydrated and I may just do that for future backpacking trips. Her recipe (scroll down the page of the above link to find it) suggests, no promises, success no matter what combination of ingredients you put in these. So far she seems to be keeping that promise. I replaced coconut with slivered almonds, didn't add chia seeds since I didn't have any, used chopped dried apricots in place of raisins and cut the sweetener (in my case that was agave syrup) from 1/2 cup to a 1/3 cup. And for my tastes I would cut the sweetener even more the next time I make these. I'd also like to use a more sustainable option for individually wrapping them in the future - I hate throwing away saran wrap - even the non-toxic recycled stuff I use - and wrapping up these bars takes quite a bit of it. The bars were definitely worth making and very simple. I love anything with oats and the banana makes a great addition I wouldn't have thought of on my own. In the future I would enjoy trying these with other nut butters, seeds, nuts and fruits - the combinations are endless as are the adventures for the taste buds.

Apple Custard Pie

The recent issue of Vegetarian Times got me drooling. (A whole section on oats - I love oats!) And the recipe for their Apple Custard Pie with Oatmeal Crust sounded delicious. So I made it. Well my own tweaked version of it,that is. I rarely follow a recipe exactly. This time it had to do with not having some of the exact ingredients on hand - like oat milk and oat flour. I got creative and used some almond milk (that has been in the pantry waiting to be used in some recipe ever since I discovered I don't like to drink straight almond milk.) Whole wheat pastry flour had to take the place of the oat flour. Butter took the place vegan margarine, since that is what I have and tend to use if not using oil. To top it off, literally, I doubled the cinnamon and halved the sugar in the topping.

The Verdict: It came out beautifully in the presentation category. The crust was the highlight of this pie in my opinion and I am looking forward to using it for other pies in the future. The custard was nice and light with a slightly nutty taste, most likely imparted by the almond milk. The main thing I would change in the future is to slice the apples very thin and layer them in stead of using the larger wedges the original recipe called for. I think this would give the pie a more delicate texture, allowing the custard and apple to be appreciated together more thoroughly.

Here's the final recipe as I would do it.

For the crust:

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup oat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup water

For the filling:

2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup oat or almond milk
3 small apples, peeled, cored, and sliced very thinly.

For the topping:

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. Coat an 8 or nine inch pie plate (I used a 9.5 but the crust would go up higher on the edges with a slightly smaller pie plate) with cooking spray or oil.

2. For the crust: Mix together oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, and the cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in melted butter and water until the mixture forms into a crumbly dough. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Bake for 15 minutes or until the crust looks dry.

3. For the filling: Whisk together eggs, sugar, and the vanilla. Whisk in the oat or almond milk until smooth.

4. In the bottom of the pre-baked crust, arrange the apple slices. Pour the filling over the apples and return the pie to the oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the custard has set.

5. For the topping: Blend the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the hot pie. Cool on a wrack until serving.