Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles 5/5 Spoons

It is so rare when my end product actually looks almost exactly like the product in the recipe picture. I am so proud of myself here.

Isa's cookies:

My cookies (with a camera phone under the harsh light of my stove, so use your imagination...)

These Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles are exactly what I wanted to eat tonight. I wanted something chocolate-y and I had everything I needed for these simple and easy cookies. The heat hits you about 30 seconds in to eating these cookies and linger but not in a bad way. It's a warming taste and really damn good.

Here are my notes:

-- I used vegetable oil because it is what I had.
-- Instead of a full cup of sugar, I only used 2/3 of a cup.
-- I have been using So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk lately instead of soy/almond milk and I love it, especially in baking.
Edit: I forgot to add this, about halfway through the baking, I took the cookies out and pushed them down with the bottom of a drinking glass. It flattens the cookies out so they aren't puffy but more flat and chewy in the middle.

For some reason, I'm always wary of using maple syrup in baking. I can't really taste it at all in the cookies so I'm assuming it gives it a depth of flavor along with the chocolate. No matter what, these were amazing. These will definitely be made again.

Up next, Red Velvet Waffles with a Coconut Cream Cheese topping!

Vegan Refried Bean Soup 5/5 Spoons

Oh my gosh, it is totally fall right now. I'm wearing leggings and a cardigan and I finally had to bust out my light jacket for the commute to work this morning. I get giddy in this weather even though I adore summer. It is like you can almost smell the firewood and spices in the crisp air.

This is a whole lot better than me talking about farts. But oops, here we are. I'm going to just come out and say it, vegetarians and vegans fart a lot. Now I'm sure no one wants to hear about gastrointestinal distress on a food website but it is a part of my life and a result of my diet. I freakin' love beans. And cauliflower. And broccoli. And cabbage. And all those other things that make me a totally gross smelly person. I try to keep it to myself but we all know that is impossible. Anyhow, I just want to warn you what will come of eating this soup. You will be a fart machine but it will be totally worth it. (This is now the end of my gross talk. Now for the delicious food!)

(Photos courtesy of Love and Olive Oil)

This soup was SO EASY TO MAKE. I came home from work determined to eat something delicious and healthy and this took me 30 minutes flat from start to finish. It had a nice warming, spicy heat but with some sweetness from corn. And it is chock full of protein and fiber, you won't even know what to do with yourself. Here are my tiny bit of notes:

-- Can I just say, why haven't I used fire roasted tomatoes before now? They are amazing.
-- I definitely put in more hot sauce than was called for and then had some red pepper flakes. So yeah, spice it up however you want.
-- As for accoutrements, I put out green onions, sour cream and tortilla chips. The tortilla chips really made it though, so perfect.

I am putting this on my very long list of soups to make over and over again. And when it is this cheap, easy and delicious... why the heck not?

Hopefully I will be back again soon with a dessert recipe. Maybe something pumpkin-y? You will have to wait and see! xoxo

Indian-Style Vegetable Curry 5/5 Spoons

I don't want to toot my own horn too excessively BUT I think I'm a pretty great cook and baker. All of these things rolled into one? I'm a total catch. Anyhow, I know my stuff (for the most part) but I still really suck at cooking rice. Sometimes it is average but the rest of the time, it comes out either too dry or too wet and gooey. If anyone can give me a foolproof way to cook rice (jasmine and standard white long grain) on a stove top, I will like give you a thousand kisses.

(You have to deal with my phone pics!)

Since I'm unemployed, I have an awful lot of time to watch America's Test Kitchen (between looking for work and talking to my temp rep like every day). This is really one of the best cooking shows on television. I used to be really into Food Network and now I find most of it to be a joke. I love cooking shows that make simple food that is often easily messed up on a daily basis. They show you the science of why certain things work and other things don't. I secretly love how snobby they are about food because I'm that way too. I tend to keep it to myself as to still have friends and family who love me. It's hard but I can manage, haha. Anyhow, the only fault I have with ATK is that they almost never make vegetarian dishes, let alone totally vegan ones. I was thrilled when they made this because I've had a string of bad curry recipes going through my kitchens in the last year. The one thing that was missing in this recipe that really attracted me was sesame oil. I've mentioned before my distaste of sesame oil so I thought I'd give this a try and it was a serious success. Here are my notes:

-- I used one onion but it ended up being 2 cups, go figure. I was kind of careful about measuring because I wanted this to turn out perfect.
-- As usual, I used dried ginger instead of fresh.
-- Since I like it spicy, I left the seeds and ribs in the pepper. If you aren't a hot person, I would say get rid of it. Serranos pack a punch.
-- I'm pretty careful about my sodium intake (among other things) just because I know it's not good for me. I had no idea there were so many sodium-free options out there. The tomato paste and diced tomatoes were both totally void of salt. I love being able to put my own amount of salt and feel good about it.
-- Because I wanted to make this totally vegan, I used coconut milk instead of cream.
-- I didn't have any condiments around to top the curry but I think cilantro would be dynamite sprinkled on top.

This is so spicy, warming and full of delicious, healthy vegetables. And since we have air conditioning, I can enjoy chili and curry even when it is 90 degrees outside. Sorry to rub it in! This all came together fairly fast (45 minutes) and is super healthy. I think this is a do-able weeknight dinner that makes a lot of food at a pretty damn cheap price. If you don't have A/C, I would bookmark this and save it for October. It's worth waiting for.

Peanut Noodle Vegetable Soup 5/5 Spoons

I bet you all get really sick of me reviewing 5 star recipes. Actually, why would you? Don't you want to know that I'm constantly eating amazing meals? I would like to wish wonderful meals for everyone in the world. Well if you want to see me break and get mad about something I ate then this post is not for you.

(Photos courtesy of thursday night smackdown)

So I woke up this morning with the full intended desire to make some coffee, sit on our patio and read. Then as soon as I got dressed and my coffee was waiting for me, it started to rain. Dammit. I sat around feeling sorry for myself and then realized I have a lot of veggies to eat up and whoa, I should make that Peanut Noodle Vegetable Soup I had a recipe for. I thought this was also one of those throwaway recipes that I wouldn't end up making and I would have a sad, floppy head of cabbage just rotting away in my fridge. Nope, I wouldn't allow that to happen to this most honorable of vegetables! I'm so glad I made this, especially on such a drizzly dark day. It was warming, creamy but light and full of spice and tart sharpness. A lot of different wonderful flavors play together and sing in your mouth. Plus, it is SUPER healthy. Here are my tweaks and notes:

-- I'm really bad at remembering to grab fresh ginger when I'm at the market, even if it is on my list. So like many other recipes, I used 1/2 T. of dried ginger instead.
-- I definitely used more than 1 t. of red chili flakes. I would guess about twice that because I like it spicy.
-- Did you know that sweet potatoes are different than yams? I used a sweet potato here, there are not a lot of yams floating around in Chicago.
-- When I use canned tomatoes, I puree them in food processor because I don't like chunks. I think the tomato puree in this was perfect.
-- I used vegetable broth over water just to add more flavor.
-- I'm pretty loyal to Jif or Peter Pan peanut butter, so I used that instead of natural. I honestly don't think it would make much of a difference here.
-- So I cooked some cellophane noodles and they like grossed me out once they were done. I know it sounds weird but the texture made me nauseous. At the end here I threw in about 1/2 box of thick spaghetti broken into small pieces. It was perfect.
-- The lime in here is SO GOOD. I would suggest just squeezing the whole lime into the soup and mixing it a bit right before you serve. And I didn't add anymore hot sauce, but it would be nice to cater to each individual person's taste and have it on the side.

Okay, so it seems like a lot of notes, but really I don't think I deviated too much from the original recipe. So yeah, go out and make this now. It is chock full of vitamin C and beta carotene (from the sweet potato, carrots and cabbage) and protein from the peanut butter (although adding some tofu in here would be even better.) All I'm saying is that I love you guys and you need your vitamins. Mama is just watching out for you.

Homemade Black Bean Burgers 4/5 Spoons

I've had about one million (give or take) veggie and black bean burgers in the last 10 years or so. When you can't find any other exciting veggie option, you can always find a veggie or bean burger. They are a consummate go-to meal but really they are pretty damn boring. And I'm not saying these are perfect but I actually crave these black bean burgers unlike any others I've purchased, ate at a restaurant or have made myself before.



(Photo courtesy of MATTSBELLY at Allrecipes.com)

So when I make these, I double the recipe. These are awesome to keep on hand in the fridge or even freeze to have on hand for a quick lunch. I always serve these with whole wheat rolls, ketchup and deli mustard. I should be a little more exciting and throw some lettuce, onions and tomatoes in the mix but I always try to do as little chopping as possible with these. Actually when I want to smash the beans and chop the garlic, onion and pepper.... I always do it in my food processor! It totally rules and saves me from having to use our shitty potato masher.

Actually the only thing I would change in these burgers is maybe putting less chili powder in the mix. This last time that I ate them, it was a tad overwhelming. I almost always cook mine on the stove top in an oiled pan but this last time I tried baking them in the oven. Eh, not as good. You don't get a crispy outside when you bake these. So you can allow yourself a little bit of oil to eat these otherwise totally healthy burgers. Be careful when you flip them though because sometimes they like to fall apart. These have a nice dense texture and a wonderful smoky flavor.



(Photo courtesy of Megan on Allrecipes.com)

I give this recipe:

4/5 Spoons!

Ok, I will probably do a dessert next, they are my favorite to write about!

Black Pepper Tofu 4/5 Stars

Oops, hi, I skipped a day or two. Lately I just haven't had my regular desire to eat my own meals. Isn't that weird? But I still love to cook and I'm glad my roommates still love to eat what I make.

All I want to eat are Smart Deli ham sandwiches on flaxseed bread, Odwalla Mango Tango smoothies and Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with honey and almonds. But I want to review one of the best tofu recipes I've found in 2010. Although I have made a few adjustments to the recipe, it is still overall the same deliciously spicy amazing recipe.

First off, Lottie and Doof is a food blog operated by a couple here in Chicago. Even though I'll take recipes from anywhere, I love knowing that I may be eating the same thing for dinner as someone else in my favorite city! There aren't a ton of vegetarian recipes on the website, but what is there is gold. And there are a few good dessert recipes as well. It is worth checking out. My friend Melissa hipped me (am I 80?) to this recipe for Black Pepper Tofu.



(photo courtesy of Lottie and Doof)

Obviously you can click on the recipe and check it out but let me give my own notes. There are a few but I don't think it would in any way compromise what the dish is really supposed to taste like. I just catered it to my own taste buds.

-- I made the tofu exactly as stated in the recipe, it turns out perfectly and I think I will use the cornmeal coating method for various other tofu recipes from now on. It's a pain the ass and takes awhile (especially if you use two blocks of tofu) but it's worth it, trust me.
-- I did not use a whole stick of butter. I used half of one and then supplemented with some olive oil. I really think you could just use all olive oil and a lot less, I'll try that next time. I know the butter gives the shallots, garlic, etc. a beautiful glossy sheen but I don't know how much flavor it imparts especially since the dish is powerfully spiced.
-- I used two jalapenos instead of 4 small red chilies. It's hard to find them at the store I go to, so I compromise.
-- Instead of fresh ginger, I used 1 1/2 T. dried ginger. Whenever I buy fresh ginger, I forget about it and it goes to waste. So dry works best for me.
-- The peppercorns. Wow. Do not use 4 tablespoons. Your mouth will simply fall off. I LOVE spicy food and even 2 tablespoons was a bit much but still very good. Make sure to use freshly ground peppercorns, if you used 2 T. of a finely ground pepper you would die, haha.
-- I just used all regular low-sodium Kikkoman soy sauce. And I may have used a bit less than it says. And I used 2 T. of brown sugar along with it instead of the caster sugar.
-- Green onions instead of spring onions. It's winter, we don't have spring onions now. They work really well though.

OK, I know this looks insane and like I totally fucked up the recipe but really I think I still capture the essence of this meal. My food looked exactly like L&D's recipe in the picture. Oh! And jasmine rice is essential. So flippin' good with this. There is a nice mixture of the green onion, the sheer spiciness of the thick sauce, the pungent warmth of ginger and the chewiness of the tofu. It is a knock out dish and worth the time to make.



I give this dish:

4/5 spoons!

Enjoy everyone! I'll be back sometime this weekend with Buttermilk Lemon Bars and a non-lard KFC biscuits recipe.