Apron Strings

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp.salt
1t cinnamon
1/2 bag dark chocolate
1/2c pecan pieces
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil (or softened margarine)
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water
2T soymilk

Preheat the oven to 350.
Mix all of the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the dry.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the wet to them! Mix it really well. I suggest using your hands.
Shape the cookies and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. If you’re feeling particularly lazy, line the cookie sheets with foil!
Bake for 10-12 minutes (depending on the cookie size), and let them cook before gently moving them over to a plate.
Serve! (If you used foil, toss it into the recycle bin!)

1/4c olive oil
1 young vidalia onion (or 1 leek), chopped green and white parts
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 head garlic, in chunks
2T italian seasoning
1t fennel seeds
1t cayenne (you can use more or less or none, depending on how spicy you like things!)

2 glasses of red wine

8-10 plum tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 can canneilini beans, drained

1 box whole wheat rotini (or whatever pasta you like, really)

those pine nuts that you weren’t craving until Bonnie mentioned pine nuts (toasted walnuts would be fine, too! or toasted, slivered almonds!)

Heat the oil over meduim and add the onion, red pepper, garlic and spices. Sautee for a few minutes, stirring, until the onion whites and peppers start to soften, then dump in 1 glass of red wine. The other glass is for you! Have some!

Start getting that pasta ready! Set up the water to boil.

Dump the tomatoes and beans into the pot and lower the heat. Cover, but check on things to see if they need stirring. If they do, you’ll know!

Your water for the noodles should be boiling. Dump those in and check the package to see how long they need to cook. When the noodles are done, your sauce should be all ready! Toss everything together, top with those pine nuts and eat!

About 5 cups of collards, torn up
31/2 tomatoes, cut into chunks (save the other half for tomato sammiches!)
1/2 head garlic
1 onion, diced
1/3 cup lentils
2T curry powder
2t garam masala
2t cumin
2t coriander
1t ginger
3/4 cans cream of coconut (you could use more, if you want it creamier)
water

Dump everything into your crock pot and fill it up with enough water to cover everything. Cook on low until the lentils are soft….about 6 hours, though you could be lazy like me and set it to cook over night.

I can’t wait to have this tomorrow for lunch! Theres some leftover brown rice in the fridge that I’m going to mix right in!

1/2 brick tofu, cubed
1/4c black bean sauce (mine was leftover from a Green Sprout delivery, but I’m sure the jarred sort would work just fine.)

2T sesame oil
1/2 head garlic, minced fine
1/2 small onion, minced
2T soy sauce
2t chili garlic sauce (optional)

4 cups collards, chopped coarsely

1/2c mushrooms, sliced

2T tosted sesame seeds (optional)

Mix up the tofu with the black bean sauce and set aside. You want to let it sit while you prepare everything else, so it will soak up the beany goodness!

Heat the sesame oil on medium heat and toss in the garlic and onion. Stir for a minute or two, then add the soy and chili garlic sauce. Cook for a couple of minutes more, until the garlic starts to brown.

Now it’s time to toss in the greens! You may have to add it in batches, throwing in more as it cooks down. Once all your greens are reduced and bright and lovely, it’s time to add the shrooms and the tofu. Increase the heat to medium-high, and stir everything up for a few minutes, until the tofu is heated through.

Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, if you’re using them, and serve! This is nice with rice or noodles.

I told you it was a lot of collards! Tomorrow, I am going to try to reproduce the collards that my fiance, Dave, used to eat as a kid. If it goes well, I’ll post it! It’s going to be a pretty greens-centric month, since it sounds like that is what’s growing locally right now.

2T olive oil
1/2c sliced mushrooms…whatever sort you like!
1/2c broccoli slaw
2 cloves garlic
1/2t fennel seeds

1/4c sundried tomatoes
2T water
1T soy sauce
2-3T pine nuts
1t italian seasoning
1t onion powder
dash of cayenne
1/4c nutritional yeast plus 2 extra tablespoons

Heat the oil on medium high and toss in the mushrooms, broccoli slaw, garlic and fennel. Sautee until the mushroom s soften, then throw in everything else, except that extra bit of nutritional yeast. Heat everything all up until it starts to get a little bit creamy, then transfer it to a bowl. Top with the extra yeast and serve!

This could serve one as a really big dinner or two, with some soup and garlic bread on the side! If you want to make it soy free, you can add a little salt, up the water by a tablespoon and omit the soy sauce!