Father’s Day. It’s coming. Except in my case, I call it Pop’s Day, cuz that’s what I call my dad. I can’t really send him flowers or a little piece of jewelry like I can my mother on her special day. He no longer needs ties and has more tools, shirts and logo baseball hats than he can ever use. So what do I send my old man to let him know how special he is? Bake him a batch of (healthy) cookies that host his favorite flavors.
Pop’s Chocolate Chip Cookies with Grapefruit & Anise
Makes ~16
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. powdered stevia
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. anise seeds, crushed with a mortar & pestle or processed in a spice grinder
3 tbsp. vegan butter
2 tbsp. prune puree
1/4 cup maple sugar
1 tbsp. flaxseed meal + 3 tbsp. water (whisk together and let sit for a minute or two)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. grapefruit zest
1/2 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat oven to 375F.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, stevia, salt and anise seeds. In a large bowl, cream the butter, prune puree and maple sugar until smooth. Add the flaxseed meal mixture, vanilla extract and zest and mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and stir in the chocolate chips. Drop dough by the tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets. I wet the bottom of a glass to gently flatten the cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking pans before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Reading is at its best when it is not only entertaining, but enlightening, instructional and thought-provoking. When it takes one outside of one’s self and one’s small circle of thinking. I just finished a book like that, A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, by Laural Thatcher Ulrich. The book uses excerpts from Martha Ballard’s diary, fills out her story with rich detail culled from meticulous research and adds in information about the politics, social norms and mores of the time period in which she kept her diary (1785-1812 – what a time period in which to live, no?).
A mere few weeks ago I was all hot for 
The first time I made this simple miso soup, I was home alone and suffering from a bad cold. All I wanted was soup (a little sympathy wouldn’t have hurt, either), but I didn’t have the desire or energy to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Miso was the perfect solution. Quick, easy, comforting and healthful to boot. You can make it as fancy or as simple as you like.
3-4″ piece kombu
Chile-Garlic Sauce
When a neighbor of ours went in for some major foot surgery – surgery that would leave him house-bound for quite a while – Kel and I thought it would be nice to drop off something comforting to help with his convalescence. I occasionally send a fresh loaf of whole grain bread this neighbor’s way – the man appreciates a good loaf of bread – but this time I wanted something a little extra special to help with the healing process.
A few days ago while doing a sort-of, kind-of inventory of my canned goods, I noticed four cans of tart cherries staring back at me. Wow. When did I buy those?? I grabbed one and checked the date: getting close to expiration time. I’ve been on a mission to use those cans before the clock strikes midnight on them (what exactly happens on the expiration date anyway? Do they self-destruct? Instantly acquire botulism?) My first recipe was a vegan version of Cauldron and Cupcakes’ Cherry Ripe Slice (I love the name of this recipe – I feel like I could change the words around and it would still make sense). I must admit that my first go-round on these didn’t come out quite as expected. Perfectly edible, but not ready for prime time. I encourage you to check out Nicole’s decadent version – it looks and sounds wonderful. (In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my smoothie variation of her dessert. See the recipe below the Chocolate-Cherry-Banana Smoothie recipe.)
I just finished reading The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, by Michael Ruhlman and while it was interesting, it made me realize a couple of things. One is, I’m glad that I’m not a chef. It’s a hard life. I can barely take the stress of preparing three meals a day for two people, let alone service for tens or even hundreds. The second thing is, I could never go to the Culinary Institute of America. It should be called The Carcass Institute of America (though the book covers a period back in the 1990s, so things may have changed there). There is brief mention in the book of a class (one class mind you, not a full course) on vegetarianism, and it takes place in a basement room towards the end of one’s education at the Institute. Sounds pretty half-arsed and halfhearted to me.
With great enthusiasm I set out one morning to make Build-Your-Own-Energy-Bars, courtesy of Amber Shea Crawley and her cookbook, Practically Raw. I knew I could bang out a batch of bars, pop them in the freezer and have them ready for our daily 3 pm snack. Easy. I gathered the ingredients and pulled out the food processor and away I went. But something went wrong. The mixture was not really a mixture. There was no way it was going to stick together to create bars. I stared into the processor as if the answer were in the pile of pretty crumbs. I looked around the kitchen. What could I do to rescue this recipe? I didn’t want to add maple syrup – no way it needed any sweetening. Peanut butter? As much as I love it, it would not work here. Sesame seeds…sesame seeds…tahini! I plopped a big ol’ spoonful into the processor and whirled again.
