Green Monster Breakfast Cookie

I don't think I need to inform anyone about the Green Monster phenomenon that has been circling the blog world. Its come to the point where greens for breakfast are just commonplace. And that's a good thing. But I do have to say that I really enjoy having food to chew. A smoothie will fill my belly, but I always find that something is missing.

So I find myself back at the breakfast cookie. I have posted a few variations in the past, like Banana Walnut and Carrot Cake, and I've been making them again recently. My only problem is that they were decidedly "un-green". I swiped some spirulina this weekend though (that makes it sound like I stole it...I didn't), and now they are just as green as your kale smoothie.

its the tiny bag in the center, left of the bulk cacao nibs and above the butterscotch chips

These are chock full of nutrients, protein, healthy fat, and whole grains; have texture and take time to enjoy; are kind of sort of raw-ish; and are just such an awesome way to start the day!

Green Monster Breakfast Cookies

1 banana, either blended or melted

2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

6 Tbsp liquid sweetener (agave, maple syrup, brown rice syrup)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp spirulina powder

1/2 cup ground flax meal

1/4 cup cacao nibs

1/4 cup grated carrot (about 6 baby carrots)

1 cup protein powder

1 cup old fashioned oatmeal

1/2 cup raisins

Acquire all ingredients. After that its really easy. Mix all the wet ingredients (banana counts as wet, it should be either blended up with the other wet ingredients) into a big bowl. Then add each ingredient, one at a time, in order, until fully incorporated. Form into cookies*, and refrigerate. I make 8 cookies and for me, this is 4 servings.

Serves 4

Nutrition Information: 556.6 Calories; 18.6g Total Fat; 8.4g Saturated Fat; 0.0mg Cholesterol; 76.7g Carbohydrates; 12.7g Fiber; 25.4g Protein.

It might be less for you, I rely on these to take me through a good long part of my day. This is a decent sized recipe, and could easily make 5 servings, just make 10 cookies that are a little smaller.

Serves 5

Nutrition Information: 445.3 Calories; 14.9g Total Fat; 6.7g Saturated Fat; 0.0mg Cholesterol; 61.4g Carbohydrates; 10.2g Fiber; 20.3g Protein

*One little tip for forming these into cookies, is to coat your hands with some vegetable oil (I use sunflower oil). These can be pretty sticky, but they lose their stickiness after being in the fridge for awhile, making them perfectly portable (I often stick them in my pocket on my way to the car).

I am always happy on the first morning of a new batch of breakfast cookies. They don't need to be refrigerated, so the day they're made I eat them immediately, pleased with success, and the fact that I have a healthy filling breakfast ready for the next three days.

Any suggestions for breakfast cookie varieties? I'm always looking for something new to do with them. I've had some successes, that I have posted above and recently made some Zucchini Raisin Cookies that came out pretty well. I've also had some not-so-successful batches, including a tropical variety and a chocolate mint. You can tell they weren't as good because they didn't get formal capitalized names, haha. Anyway, let me know if you have a suggestion, I want to know!!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Writhing With It

Anticipation, that is.  

I don't know if you all have noticed, but it is definitely new cookbook season.  I was lucky enough to be able to review one of them.  

PETA's Vegan College Cookbook arrived on my doorstep about two weeks ago.  I read through it (yes, I read cookbooks), and then it was left in the backseat of my husband's car.  My initial thoughts were that a lot of the stuff was simple, some of it was plain weird and...all that microwaving??  

Then I realized that this cookbook was actually completely perfect for this time of my life.  No, I'm not living in a dorm with limited space and cooking utensils, but I am definitely short on time.  Anyway, I think I reviewed it with justice, and I was very pleasantly surprised.  

First on the list?  Legume Va-Va-Voom.  

This was a rice based dish with avocado, lentils and peanuts.  The cooking time was pretty much just as long as it took to make the rice.  I made a half recipe, and I definitely had enough for three servings, which was exactly the yield (it always makes me happy when a recipe's yield matches my yield).  This was really good, incredibly filling, and super easy.  Plus, it was kind of different, which was why I made it!  

Next I made the recipe in the book that jumped out at me the most...I just couldn't get it out of my mind, I had to try it.  Called Sham and Cheez, it was, at its heart, a microwaved lump of pancake with fake ham and cheese in it.  Wait, keep reading!!!!!  Okay, well I don't really like fake cheese.  And I don't really like fake ham (or real ham for that matter).  The only fake meat that I almost always like is fake sausage patties, so I used two Yves breakfast sausage patties instead of ham, and I used a zucchini instead of cheese.  Still, the method was the same, and you had better believe that it was completely delicious...especially with some maple syrup on top, and dipped in some mustard.  

This also took all of 5 minutes to make.  It really is microwaved (vegan) pancake mix in a bowl, with the ingredients, and then popped out to give you a big fluffy mound of....goodness.  Are you getting the impression that I liked this?  I mean, I like it now, and I will probably eat it fairly often.  But I could totally see myself making this ALL THE TIME if I were still living in a dorm.  

At this time you may be noticing the clutter that is all over my photos.  I totally just don't have time to clean up, so this gives you an idea of what my life has looked like for the past few weeks.  

I wanted to review one more recipe before I made any kind of official decision on how to review this book, and I went for a side, the Limon Spinach.  This was super super easy.  I made it for my brother and I along with the new Cluckphrey breaded chicken patties from Food for Life (the people who make Ezekiel bread products).  I made them parmigiana style, with some Teese that I bought awhile ago and I just have to tell you...I just don't like processed vegan cheese.  Any of it.  It does melt though.  

Anyway, the point is...the spinach was good!  

And the final point is, I really like this book!  I was very skeptical, a.) because I think the girl on the front looks like a robot, and b.) because a lot of the recipes were stupid easy (think, cut up fruit with vegan yogurt).  But really, a lot of the recipes were innovative, and from what I tried, really good!!     

Some things to note about this cookbook.  I like that they have three separate sections for specific foods that they like:  peanut butter, potatoes, and ramen.  I haven't had the chance to try anything from those sections yet, but there are definitely a few things on my radar like the :  Idaho?  No, YOU da ho Potatoes Au Gratin.  Another thing I like?  Silly recipe names!  

One thing I'm not a huge fan of is the number of recipes that rely on fake meat and/or cheese.  I understand that they're really convenient, but frankly, I have found very few meat substitutes that I like, and even fewer fake cheese substitutes (as in, none..see above).  

Their publication date is officially this Tuesday, May 12th, but I've already seen it at my local Borders!  

And, just for fun, some other books that I saw there that I am dying to get my hands on:  

Ani's Raw Food Desserts (Okay, I already bought this one, you know how I love Ani)

The Vegan Scoop - an entire book of vegan ice cream recipes

Babycakes:  The Cookbook - baking from the famed vegan bakery in NYC

The Vegan Table - by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks and the Vegetarian Food for Thought podcast (which you should download if you don't already)

...and let's not forget that Isa Chandra Moscowitz's Vegan Brunch book comes out this month too!!  Also, did you know that Isa and Terry Hope Romero are coming out with Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar(gotta wait til fall for that one)???  Holy vegan desserts, man.  

So hopefully you're anticipating something out there too.  I've got far too much on my plate right now, that little things like cookbooks are exactly what I need to keep my mind off of things!  

Go Green

For St. Patrick's Day, of course.  

Honestly, I've never been a big fan of St. Patty's Day.  I'm completely Italian, and I know that "everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day", but even when I was younger, I never really bought it.  My mom loves it, green bagels, Irish Soda Bread, etc.  My husband is half Irish too, but its just not my thing.  Even in college when it was just another excuse to drink a lot...I mean, I never needed an excuse for that (yes, my college experience was like that...maybe why I had an extra 30lbs to lose by my junior year).  

Anyway, the fact that my breakfast tomorrow will be "green" is a happy coincidence.  I ran out of breakfast cookies today, and was trying to make use of the stuff left in my refrigerator...like spinach.  Into a breakfast cookie it went.

Green (I swear, I know they don't look that green) Breakfast Cookies

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup protein powder

1 cup flax meal

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp coconut oil

6 tbsp maple syrup and/or agave nectar, or any combination of the two

2 tbsp applesauce

1 tbsp molasses

2-4 tbsp water

1 cup spinach

  

The process, if you haven't memorized it by now, is pretty simple.  In a big bowl, mix the first four ingredients.  In a smaller bowl, liquify the coconut oil.  Add that, plus the rest of the ingredients (sweetener through spinach) into a blender/food processor/whatever (I use my magic bullet, super convenient for jobs like this), and blend.  Add the wet to the dry, mix, and form into 8 cookies.  

Serves 4

Nutrition Information:  433.8 Calories;  17.9g Total Fat;  6.3g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  48.1 g Carbohydrates;  11.3g Fiber;  26.6g Protein

As always, the nutrition information largely depends on the protein powder you use. 

These are so good.  I love that green stuff tastes so good.  I know a lot of you are into the green smoothie, which isn't my thing, but its just such a cool concept..greens for breakfast! 

You can easily raw-i-fy these too.  Replace the rolled oats with another cup of flax meal.  The protein powder can either be hemp protein, or you can also use the flax meal for that too.  I'm sure molasses isn't raw, you could use more maple syrup or agave for that.  The molasses is just good for hardening it for the "put in your pocket" factor.  You could use any pureed fruit instead of the applesauce.  

For all of you who DO enjoy the tomorrow's lovely Irish holiday, I hope it treats you well!  Tomorrow should be an easy day for me.  We're so close to the city, so everyone is going to the parade instead of school.  In other news though, life has been stressful, which is why I haven't been posting much.  I'll talk about it more later on, but I've been at least trying to keep up with you guys!  

Golden Tofu Stack

I came home today with one thing in mind...food.  All of a sudden I just couldn't wait to cook something.  I've been forcing myself to go to the gym right after school, and when I get home, I just don't feel like it.  But not today.  Fridays are nice!  

I stopped at my favorite store, near the school I am teaching at, on the way home.  Picked up some favorites; carob raisins, GoRaw bars, Mint Chocolate Builder bars, some staples; cheapest TVP ever ($0.90 for half a pound), green beans, chard, tofu, and some new stuff;  golden beets, miso soup packets, and my Valentine's Day present to myself:

Can't open it until tomorrow though!  

At the other store I go to (near my college), they have a prepared food bar, and I always get this tofu that they have because it is delicious.  I decided to take a stab at recreating it to go with my beets for dinner.  

Golden Tofu Stack

1 golden beet

1/4 butternut squash

3.5 ounces extra firm tofu

2 tbps maple syrup

1/2 tsp Bragg's/tamari/soy sauce

1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1 blood orange

1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1.  Slice tofu thin, into five pieces, and marinate in maple syrup, soy sauce/Bragg's/tamari, and 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar for at least 30 minutes.

2.  While the tofu is marinating, peel the beets and squash, and cut into rounds, and matchsticking a few of them for garnish (optional).

3.  Set oven to 400 degrees.  Cover a baking sheet with foil, coat with cooking spray.  Arrange the tofu, beets, and squash on the sheet, and spray with cooking spray, and season both sides with salt and pepper (veggies and tofu).  Cook 10 minutes, remove matchsticks, flip the sliced beets, squash, and tofu, and bake 10 more minutes.

4.  Blend the fruit of one blood orange with 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar.  

5.  Stack it all up, drizzle with the blood orange sauce.

Serves 1

Nutrition Information:  256.5 Calories;  5.3g Total Fat;  0.7g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  41.5g Carbohydrates;  7.8g Fiber;  12.8g Protein

I suggest serving it with the beet greens, of course!   

Do you usually buy ingredients with a dish in mind, or buy ingredients, and then come up with a meal?  I bought a whole bunch of stuff at the store, and the whole plan came to me on the way home (again, all that time to think in the car), but I think I usually do it the other way around.      

This was so good, and I was totally thrilled that it tasted almost exactly the same as my favorite salad bar tofu...better even, because I cut it thinner, and it was slightly crispy around the edge.  Totally yum, and I will most definitely be making it again (and again, haha).  

This was also my first time having golden beets.  If you haven't had them, and happen upon them..try them!  Yummy stuff. 

As much as I love my student teaching gig, I am looking forward to a three day weekend, hopefully filled with lots of good food!  Lots of yoga too.  I hope everyone else has a good one!