Apology Treats

Ok, so I lied; I didn't come back on Monday. It didn't rain that much .. and I was distracted with frequent bike rides and baking these cookies for my school bake sale and soccer team, not to mention reports. Not good excuses, I know, but until I can get my cooking act together (maybe when these darn reports are finished.. or maybe when the berries and asparagus start coming out ..) let me leave you with a couple of recipes that I've had on the back burner for awhile.

First, there's this beautiful, frosty blended coffee drink that I made way back during the Easter long weekend to serve alongside hot cross buns and curry lentil dip. Strange combination, I know, but it totally worked. It looks and tastes fancy, but it's as easy as making coffee, making ice and using a blender. The cocoa powder did make the drink a little bit gritty, but it tasted wonderful nonetheless. If you wanted to get super fancy, you could use some melted chocolate instead, or use chocolate milk to get that rich mocha flavour.


Next, this is a great little cake that I made during March break, featuring one of my favourite dried fruits: dates. I love date squares, but sometimes those huge, buttery sweet ones that you get at coffee shops taste great as first, but leaves you feeling heavy and loaded down. This cake is a perfect compromise. It's got a lovely, rich flavour, but a really light, spongey crumb and has even got some rolled oats to bump up the nutrition factor. Sounding better already? The original recipe called for the delicious Medjool date (that I love to snack on!). I actually used a honey date that I bought at the grocery store for snacking purposes, but after tasting it, felt like couldn't stand on its own. It worked great in this recipe, but I'm sure Medjool dates would be even better. The original recipe also called for a sweet citrus glaze made from icing sugar, orange and lemon juice to be poured over top. I skipped that part out of pure laziness, but if you were making this cake to serve to guests, definitely try it out.

Am I doing any real cooking? Not really. I've been living on granola and pureed vegetable soups (likes squash, carrot, parsnip..) made by my love. Oh, there's been some macaroni and cheese, but you've seen that before. And fiddleheads! Blanched quickly and quickly tossed in a hot pan with olive oil and garlic. Very yummy! I just received a bottle of red wine as a parting gift from a student-teacher, and seeing as I'm not a big drinker, I'm already procrastinating on reports by looking up some interesting red wine recipes. More later. This time I promise .. for real.

Frosty Blended Coffee Treat
adapted from Eating Well, April 2011

1 cup of double strength brewed coffee, cooled
1 cup of skim soy or milk
2 tablespoons of natural cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
a tiny splash of vanilla extract

1. Pour the coffee into and ice cube tray and let them freeze overnight.

2. Combine the coffee cubes, milk, cocoa powder, maple syrup and vanilla in a blender.

3. Pulse until smooth and frothy. Add more milk if it's too thick.

4. Pour into glasses and enjoy!


Sticky Date Cake
adapted from Vegetarian Times, March 2011

1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of chopped dates
2 tablespoons of margarine or butter (I used Becel)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 cup of rolled oats
1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
a small pinch of salt
1 egg
a splash of vanilla extract

1. Bring the water up to a rolling boil. Quickly add the dates, margarine and baking soda and cover. Let stand for about 15 minutes. Pour the mixture into a blender or mini-chopper and blend until smooth.

2. In a large bowl, beat the egg with the vanilla. Add the date mixture and brown sugar and mix to combine. Add the oats and sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until just combined.

3. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean.

4. Enjoy with your coffee!

Chocolatey Fudgey Vegan Goodness

On my last real day of March break, my love brought home a little present for me: a compact little cookbook called "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Since then, I haven't stopped looking through it during every spare moment I have, or every time I feel like procrastinating. It's just so distracting! Pages of easy-looking recipes and alluring photos of delicious looking vegan treats .. how was I supposed to get any work done at all?

My only choice was to break down and bake something. I chose one of the first thing that caught my eye when I was skimming through the book for the very first time: vegan chocolate brownies. Within the brownie section there was lots to chose from: cocoa brownies, espresso fudge brownies, simple blondies, spiced sweet potato blondies, peanut butter blondies .. choosing was definitely a challenge. I ended up combining two of the chocolatey brownie recipes together and my result was a fudgy, dense-but-not-heavy, very very chocoately brownie. Total heaven.



And the secret ingredients? First, there was tofu -- yup, the protein power of blended silken tofu gave these brownies an amazingly fudgey texture and kept them nice and moist. Second, there were squares of Trader Joe's dark chocolate. That's right, Toronto! Not only did my love bring me back a wonderful cookbook, but he also scored 3 tins of the mysterious Trader Joe's chocolate -- mysterious because the blog world is full of Trader Joe's followers, yet there are none to be found here in Toronto. I didn't ask, I just dove right in and melted down a few wedges to enhance the chocoatelyness of the cocoa powder. The brownie was so delicious that it even fooled some junk-food-loving 13 year-olds. Have a found a healthy brownie ?? You be the judge!


Chocolate Vegan Brownies
adapted from "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

1/4 cup of canola oil
2 oz of bitter sweet chocolate
6 oz of soft, silken tofu
1/4 cup of soy
3/4 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of natural, unsweetened cocoa powder
a pinch of salt

1. Melt the chocolate with the oil over low heat, stirring constantly. Set aside.

2. In a blender of mini-chopper, blend the tofu and the soy until smooth the fluffy. Remove to a large bowl.

3. Add the chocolate mixture, sugar and vanilla and whisk to combine.

4. Sift in the cornstarch, baking powder and cocoa powder and stir gently. All the flour and salt and mix until just combined. At this point you could add in whatever extras you like: chocolate chips, chopped nuts .. go for it.

5. Spread the mixture out onto a square baking pan (non-stick or lined with parchment) and bake in a 325 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until a it has puffed up a little in the centre, and is firm to touch. Cool, cut into squares and fool your pickiest chocolate lovers.

A Chocolate Kick

Sometimes, when you're feeling down, or just a little un-energized, you need a little kick. I'm not sure what got into my system this week, but despite the post-Halloween sugar fix that the children were on, I just couldn't seem to keep from yawning every five minutes. Usually when the students have lots of energy, it makes me have lots of energy. Not this week. I nearly fell asleep in the middle of a class.

It's during weeks like this where I need a serious kick. Coffee would do it, but we've already been over the coffee days. After my Second Cup fun on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday felt like an eternity of caffeine headaches, dropping eyelids and overall sluggishness. Don't get my started on Monday. Usually my weekend coffees are enough to carry me on Monday, but not this week. I crashed on the couch at 8:00pm after nodding off during my prep periods all day.



Not fun. I could have used a serious kick .. a chocolate kick, to be specific. Nothing too ooey-gooey and sticky, nothing too sugary .. just some serious chocolate to get my engine running properly again. For starters, I could have made this cocoa banana millet porridge for breakfast. That would have set me on the right path. The millet is so unique in flavour -- very rich and nutty and wholesome. The banana provides just the right amount of sweetness to round out that deep, dark cocoa flavour. I wouldn't have been yawning on this breakfast, and it would definitely have kept me going until lunch. Millet is incredibly filling!



I could have also used a slice of this vegan chocolate cake at around 3:00pm when I'm getting ready for my last class, but wishing it were bedtime. This cake is incredibly easy to make, has a wonderful, tender crumb and it's vegan! I first had it when my love made it for me for my birthday, in a heart shaped pan and topped with a vegan chocolate glaze. But for everyday snacking, just bake it up in a loaf pan and slice away. We didn't fiddle too much with the recipe, except for using whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose flour. It's light, chocolatey and guaranteed to give you a nice kick when you need it.

Oooh chocolate. I needed you this week. I'll never forget about you again!

Cocoa Banana Millet Porridge

1/4 cup of millet
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of almond milk
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
a splash of vanilla
1/2 a banana, chopped
1 teaspoon of almond butter
a handful of frozen sour cherries (if you have them!)

1. Toast the millet in a dry saucepan for about 2-3 minutes, or until it starts popping and smelling toasty. Add the water and almond milk and bring to a soft boil. Add the chopped banana and stir.

2. Turn the heat down, cover the pot and let it cook for about 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid is soaked up.

3. Stir in the honey, cocoa powder, vanilla, frozen cherries and almond butter and cook uncovered for about 3 minutes until the liquid thickens a little.

4. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.