Schrodinger's Kittie

Ginger-Cinnamon Cookies
(Non-Vegan and Vegan Varieties)

Non-Vegan:

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 3 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
* Four pinches orange zest
* ¾ cup butter
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* ¼ cup dark molasses
* pinch of sea salt

A bit of cinnamon sugar – less than ¼ cup (cinnamon sugar is made by combining 1 tbsp cinnamon and ½ cup of sugar)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl.
3. Place the butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes.
5. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
6. Store in an air tight container out of reach of dogs, children and spouses…if you want any for yourself, that is.

To “Veganize”:

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 3 teaspoons baking soda
* ½ teaspoon baking powder
* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
* Four pinches orange zest
* ¾ cup Earth Balance
* ¼ cup canned pumpkin
* 3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
* 1 cup white sugar
* ¼ cup dark molasses
* pinch of sea salt

A bit of cinnamon sugar – less than ¼ cup (cinnamon sugar is made by combining 1 tbsp cinnamon and ½ cup of sugar)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, arrowroot, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl.
3. Place the Earth Balance into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the pumpkin and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the Earth Balance mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes.
5. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
6. Store in an air tight container out of reach of dogs, children and spouses…if you want any for yourself, that is.

_{Note: A great resource for what can be used for egg replacements can be found at My Vegetarian Recipes.}

Tasty Tuesdays:

A while back, while I was living with my best friend, we whipped up some of these and they were amazingly good….and, I don’t like cooked zucchini. So – here is the first installment into the Tasty Tuesday portfolio:

Ingredients:

16 oz garbanzos/chickpeas
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
2 cups water
1 cup red quinoa
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds medium zucchini trimmed, halved lengthwise

Directions:

1. Get coals going on the grill. Ensure there is a stash of small bits of wet wood available to toss on for a nice smoke. (I don’t gas grill, so you can modify based on your own experience if you do).

2. Drain the garbanzos and pop them into a large bowl along with the lemon juice, garlic and half the olive oil. Let this sit for 15 minutes (longer won’t hurt anything).

3. Take the halved zucchini’s and gut them, leaving only the skins. Chop the zucchini guts up into bitty pieces and set aside.

4. In a medium sauce pan, heat up the remaining oil and put in 1 tsp of the tumeric, 1 tsp paprika and 1/2 tsp chili powder. Stir frequently and let heat until fragrant. (BTW, if you have whole cumin seeds, adding a pinch to this mix is quite tasty, too).

5. Add the water, quinoa and 1 tsp salt to the saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Cover and let simmer until all the water is absorbed. Stir occassionally. Keep an eye on your heat and make sure it stays at a simmer, not a boil.

7. Back to the zucchini guts and garbanzos. Drain off the marinade. Keep the garlic, just get rid of the excess lemon juice and oil. Dump the zucchini in with the garbanzos.

8. Slice the green onions and chop the parsley and add them in with the zucchini and garbanzos.

9. Toss the zucchini and garbanzos with the remaining cumin, tumeric and paprika until evenly coated.

10. Sprinkle the zucchini skins with salt and pepper.

11. Take the quinoa and dump in with the zucchini and garbanzos. Toss to mix thoroughly.

12. Take the bowl with the zucchini and garbanzos and quinoa, and the zucchini skins and go out to the grill.

13. Put some of the wood bits onto the hot coals. (repeat this step as necessary to keep a light smoke going)

14. Take the zucchini skin and fill it with the mixture of quinoa, zuchinni and garbanzos.

15. Place the stuffed zucchini on the grill. Adjust your fire so that it’s not all concentrated in one area. You want a moderate heat to cook the zucchini boats slowly and ensure that the garbanzos and zucchini stuffing cooks through before the skin gets burned.

16. Repeat until all the zucchini skins have been stuffed and put on the grill.

14. Grill until the zucchini bits are tender and the skin is getting a bit brown.

15. Remove and serve.

My serving suggestion – serve this hot off the grill with some Na’an bread that’s been sitting on the side of the grill getting nice and warm. A bit of wine and good friends – and, you’ve got a wonderful, tasty, healthy meal. And, even most zucchini haters will wind up enjoying it.

One of the favorites around here for Saturday mornings is a nice, “fill me too full”, “stuff me and roll me out to the patio to veggitate” breakfast of pancakes.  I was hoping I could find a way to make them without milk  so we could continue to enjoy this Saturday passtime.  Mike has declared my attempt a resounding success – a ranking of 10 on a scale of one to 10.  I’ll take that as a “well done.”

Here’s the recipe for those who are interested in a healthier alternative to this traditional breakfast.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups Silk^® vanilla soy milk
2 tsp white vinegar
1 ½ cups flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 ½ tsp Ener-G^® Egg Replacer (1 egg if you prefer)
2 tbsp water
3 tbsp Earth Balance^®
Chopped walnuts – optional
Grade B Maple Syrup – optional

Directions:

1. Heat non-stick griddle to 350° F.
2. In a small bowl, pour the soy milk and add the white vinegar.  Stir together and let sit.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the egg replacer and water.
5. In a small sauce pan, melt the Earth Balance^®.
6. Pour the egg replacer and the Earth Balance^® into the soy milke and mix thoroughly.
7. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pout in the liquid mix.
8. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry by starting in the center of the wet ingredients and slowly moving toward the dry. As each bit of dry incorporates into the wet ingredients, move a little more into the dry ingredients until all if fully incorporated. Whisk until smooth.
9. Use a ladel to measure the amount to put onto the griddle. One ladel full = one pancake.
10. Mike likes nuts in his food. So, though I cannot eat them due to allergies, I do try to add them for him when possible. Today, I poured the batter onto the griddle and then put a handful of chopped walnuts on each pancake for Mike. Doing it this way, the tops of the pancakes look “normal” because the top has already seered by the time you get the chopped nuts on to the batter…so it gives a nice surprise to the person being served.
11. I put the maple syrup jug in a small sauce pan ¾ filled with water and heat it to just simmering to heat the syrup while the pancakes cook on the griddle.

I tossed a few turkey sausage patties on the griddle for Mike this morning as well. So, he got to enjoy his ‘traditional’ breakfast with a healthier twist.