The Chic Life » Vegetarian

Emergency Chocolate Chip Cookies {Recipe}

Diana — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:16:23 +0000

That’s right – Emergency Cookies! From the couch to fresh-baked in 20 minutes…depending on how fast your stir and stuff.

After seeing how much you guys liked the idea of these cookies on Facebook, I decided to put these ahead of some other recipes and posts I was planning to publish. Here we go…

I came up with this recipe when I was craving homemade dessert but feeling lazy. Also, I wanted sweets like yesterday, so I had to come up with something in a jiffy. Oh, and I also didn’t want to waste the time or ingredients baking dozens of cookies. I just wanted to make enough for me…okay, and hubby. You guys know I love things in small portions.

After trying a couple variations on the recipe, I have one I’m ready to share.

Emergency Chocolate Chip Cookies

You can have fresh-baked cookies 20 minutes from getting your booty off the couch with this recipe (assuming you don’t take forever gathering your ingredients, your oven doesn’t take too long to heat up, etc.). I seem to be in quite the lazy mood whenever I make this recipe, so I use ingredients that seem easier to find and portion out like oil instead of butter, maple syrup (plus molasses) instead of brown sugar. I think butter would taste better, but I never feel like waiting for it to come to room temperature or dirtying up another plate to melt it. But, there are plenty of substitution possibilities. Tailor them to your liking.

*Vegetarian, Vegan*

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 14-16 minutes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup flour, plus 1 tablespoon (I’ve used unbleached all purpose and spelt with good results) (sub coconut flakes for the 1 tablespoon flour for a fun variation)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
2 tablespoons oil (I used canola – feel free to sub softened butter)
2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub brown sugar)
1/8 teaspoon molasses (omit if using brown sugar)
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons chocolate chip

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine (or use a fork to stir).
In another medium bowl combine oil, maple syrup, molasses, and vanilla extract. Whisk till evenly combined (or use a fork).
Add wet mixture to dry mixture and gently stir until all flour absorbed, careful to not overmix. If you’re feeling particularly lazy (like I was the last time I made this), go ahead and your chocolate chips with the wet mixture and skip the next step.
Gently stir in chocolate chips.
Evenly distribute to 4 mounds. Bake 14-16 minutes or until edges are just browning or to your texture liking. Allow to cool till they’re safe to touch and enjoy!

Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake Minis {Recipe}

Diana — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:47:13 +0000

When I first started really watching Food TV, one of my favorite chefs was Giada. I used to watch Food TV almost everyday, and I’d always try to be home in time to catch Everyday Italian (we didn’t have DVR at the time…did it even exist 8 or 9 years ago?). I tried many of her recipes back in the day, but one of the most memorable ones, that I never got to try, was her Olive Oil Cake. I wasn’t as familiar with baking back then, and the thought of olive oil going into a cake intrigued me. I really wanted to know how it would taste.

I’ve tried olive oil cakes a couple times since then, but I finally got around to baking my very own just this week.

Since the olive oil flavor seemed light, I decided to pair it with something else. Oranges popped into my mind. Citrus and olive oil are a popular combo, so this seemed like a great idea.

And it was.

The cake was great – with a slightly crisp outside (perfect for those edge-piece cake eaters) and moist inside.

I loved the lightly sweet and barely-there-orange flavors. Possibly best of all for this lazy baker – there’s no frosting required. Just dust your cake with some powdered sugar and you’re ready to dig in!

This cake turned out so much better than I thought…I almost ate hubby’s before he even knew it existed. And since I baked it while he was out playing basketball, I totally could have gotten away with this. Lucky for him, I saved his cake mini without even taking so much as a bite (though I was tempted). I totally could have hidden a small bite with enough powdered sugar.

Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake Minis

These lightly sweetened, citrusy cake minis would be great after an evening of pasta or dinner al fresco with lots of grilled goodness. Try using a little orange olive oil for an extra orange kick. And I bet an orange-scented quick drizzle frosting would be pretty good, too! Just make this frosting recipe (click) with fresh-squeezed orange juice instead of water. Oh, and if you’re feeling really gourmet, I think these cake minis would be wonderful topped with candied orange zest (whether you purchase it or make it at home).

*Vegetarian, Vegan Options*

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 16-20 minutes
Total Time: 26-30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
6 tablespoons flour (I used unbleached all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons sucanat (or sub sugar for a sweeter flavor)
2 tablespoons milk (or vegan milk, like rice milk)
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
powdered sugar, for garnish
orange peel, optional, for garnish

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2 3-inch diameter ramekins with non-stick spray.
In a small bowl, combine water and flaxseed. Stir and set aside.
In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together (or stir with a fork).
In another medium bowl, add flaxseed mixture, olive oil, sucanat, milk and orange zest. Whisk to evenly combine (or use a fork).
Gently stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (batter will be slightly lumpy).
Evenly distribute to ramekins and bake for 16-20 minutes, until top is golden brown and tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow cake minis to cool. Run a knife along the outside edge of the cake mini to release it from the ramekin. Place each cake mini on a plate and dust with powdered sugar. Garnish with orange peel, if using.
Enjoy!

Happy baking!

Reader question: What’s your favorite flavor to pair with olive oil?

Breakfast Strawberry Shortcake for One {Recipe}

Diana — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:02:19 +0000

Here’s a fun project to try this strawberry season…

Does this look familiar?

I mean, from the photo, we appear to have something I’ve blogged about before – Farm-Fresh Strawberry Shortcakes with Amaretto-Spiked Whipped Cream (click for recipe).

It looks like a rich shortcake with sugar-sweetened strawberries and fluffy, potentially-spiked, whipped cream, right?

As it turns out, looks can definitely be deceiving…

What we actually have here is a strawberry shortcake made-over for breakfast. I added one of my favorite breakfast ingredients – oats. I also used a whole grain flour (spelt), cut the sugar by not macerating the strawberries in sugar, and found a fabulous, breakfast-worthy substitute for the whipped cream – yogurt.

I’m not going to promise you that this is healthy, but it is more breakfast-friendly. Would a chocolate croissant have more butter and sugar? I don’t really know, and I don’t really care. But, anywho, you could probably use this version as another Not So Sweet dessert with even less sugar than the original. Just tell them it’s good for you because of the probiotics. Yeaaaaaa…

Breakfast Strawberry Shortcake for One

I took my dessert strawberry shortcake recipe and switched up the ingredients to make it more breakfast-friendly. I used a whole grain flour, added oats, skipped macerating the strawberries, and substituted yogurt for the whipped cream. You could probably make this even healthier by substituting a good oil (maybe coconut?) for the butter (and please report back if you do). Oh, and I took almost all of the sugar out of this baby, so if you like your breakfast sweeter, by all means, add your preferred sweetener, to taste.

*Vegetarian, Vegan Options Listed*

Ingredients:

1/4 cup spelt flour (or flour of choice)
2 tablespoons oats
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, cold (or sub vegan substitute, like Earth Balance)
3 tablespoons milk (or vegan non-dairy milk)
3-4 strawberries, tops removed, sliced
1 small container vanilla, Greek yogurt (or yogurt of choice or vegan yogurt, like a coconut-milk-based option) – or sub plain yogurt and add sweetener of choice, to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk (or use a fork) to evenly combine.
Use a pastry cutter or fork to cut butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is in small bits (about the size of rice grains or pop rocks…yea, I said pop rocks).
Gently stir in the milk/non-dairy milk until just combined (careful to not over-mix, but do ensure all flour combined into dough).
Form dough into a ball-shape and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown on top and cooked through (if a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).
Allow to cool to room temperature. Cut shortcake in half. Top bottom half of shortcake with strawberries. Stir yogurt to desired texture and spoon as much as you’d like (I used about half the container) over the strawberries. Top yogurt with top half of shortcake and enjoy.

Acorn Squash Muffins with Sweet Walnut Topping {Recipe}

Diana — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:39:47 +0000

One of my favorite things about having this blog is when people make my recipes. Sometimes people leave me comments telling me about their experience, including who they made the recipe for and why (like this one yesterday). Sometimes I see people make notes about my recipe on Pinterest. And sometimes, my family makes one of my recipes and then serves the finished product to me. But, no matter who you are or why you decided to try out a TCL recipe, know this – I really think that’s one of the coolest things ever. It’s always an honor to me when anyone takes the time to try out one of my recipes.

I know this may seem weird since I post recipes all the time, but I don’t ever really expect people to make any of the recipes I post. I hope for them to, but unless I see a comment about it, I just assume no one did. But here’s the thing, if I can share a recipe and even one person finds some sort of happiness or any ounce of helpfulness from it, I consider that a win. In fact, reading comments with success stories about my recipes makes me so happy. It’s like blog fuel – it keeps me going.

My sister actually did something cool recently – she adapted one of my recipes into something new. It actually happened somewhat by accident. She said she was trying to make my Green Monster Muffins, when she went to get the spinach out of the refrigerator and discovered that there was none. Doh! Apparently, my parents almost always have spinach in the house, so she assumed it would be there. When she realized it wasn’t there, she found a quick back-up – acorn squash. Not sure how the acorn squash was selected, but apparently, it worked!The result was apparently a big hit with my family, and she made them again for me to try when I was in town this past weekend.

In addition to subbing out the spinach with acorn squash, she made a couple other adjustments in types and amounts of ingredients. Plus, she changed the nut topping to slightly more streusel-like mixture. The adapted muffin was definitely a winner.

Acorn Squash Muffins with Sweet Walnut Topping {Recipe}
(by my sister, adapted from my Green Monster Muffins)

When my sister was midway through making a batch of my Green Monster muffins and realized there was no spinach in the house, she made a substitution using acorn squash instead. These delicious muffins are the result, and they offer another way to sneak a little bit of veggies into anyone’s breakfast or snack.

PS: The ingredient list looks long, but these are really easy to make. I think the most difficult part is processing the acorn squash to get it grated!

Yields: 12 muffins

*Vegan options below*

Muffin Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose (unbleached) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg (or use vegan substitute, like a flaxseed egg – 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water – let sit for about 10 minutes)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 single serving applesauce (or 1/2 cup), preferably no-sugar added
1 cup finely grated acorn squash, no skin (about 1/2 an acorn squash processed in food processor)
1/4 cup milk (we used skim) (or use vegan substitute, like soy, rice, hemp milk, etc.)
3 tablespoons canola oil (or other oil of choice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 – 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Sweet Walnut Topping Ingredients (optional):

1 tablespoon melted butter (or use vegan substitute, like Earth Balance)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray.
Add whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together.
Whisk to beat egg and sugar together till light (I did this by hand for just a couple minutes).
Whisk in applesauce, acorn squash, milk, canola oil, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
Pour dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, and stir gently just to combine – careful to not over-mix.
Pour muffin batter into muffin tin cups – about 3/4 full each. If using walnuts topping, mix butter, brown sugar and walnuts together and evenly sprinkle walnut mixture on top of each muffin.
Bake for 18-22 minutes until centers set or a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool at least 10-15 minutes, or until safe to eat, before serving.

Individual Farro-Chickpea Egg Bake

Diana — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:37:42 +0000

Besides gigantic bar crawls, things have been a bit crazy for me. My current work project, which I’ve been working on for the last 3 years, is coming to a close. i have two weeks left…well, one and a half weeks at this point. It’s time to clean out my desk, pack up, and take things back to the consulting company office. I’ve been getting a little sentimental looking through all my old documents, but I’m looking forward to moving on to something new. It would be a lot better if I knew for sure what exactly was next, but I’m hoping to find out more solid details soon. In the meantime, I will focus on the next week and a half.

I’m working on enjoying the ability to WFH since that may not be possible with the next gig. One of my favorite parts of being able to WFH is enjoying better breakfasts since I don’t lose time in commuting (or putting on “real” clothes).

Recently, I combined some of that leftover Rosemary Garlic Farro with Chickpeas with one of my favorite breakfasts – the Individual Egg Bake. They actually went together quite well and made for a hearty and filling breakfast. And did I mention this is my favorite multi-tasking breakfast? Yup, I can get a lot accomplished in the almost 20 minutes it takes for this to bake.

Individual Farro Egg Bake

Don’t let the word “bake” throw you off. This recipe is actually pretty fast, and it’s actually better for busy people than scrambled or fried eggs. Why? Because you don’t have to get tied to the stove while this cooks. Just mix and bake and multi-task away while the oven does the heavy-lifting. Sub in any other leftover farro, rice, or other grain pilaf…whatever you have on hand!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 16-19 minutes
Total Time: 21-24 minutes

Ingredients (multiply by each serving for multiples):

non-stick spray
1 cage free or farm fresh egg
1 tablespoon frozen, chopped spinach
1 teaspoon milk
pinch of salt
a bit of fresh-ground pepper
2 tablespoons leftover cooked farro (I used leftovers from this yummy recipe)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly spray individual casserole dish(es) with non-stick spray.
Combine egg, spinach, milk, salt, and pepper in a bowl and whisk together. Add farro and stir to combine.
Evenly distribute egg mixture to individual casserole dish(es). Bake until edges are golden brown and egg is set in the middle, about 16-19 minutes (depending oven temperature, etc.). Note: I used a toothpick to check doneness, sort of like you would for cake.
Remove from oven and let sit for a couple minutes till it’s safe to eat. Enjoy!

Looks like I’ll be back to more grab and go breakfasts soon. I’ll probably end up either taking them to the office or just storing them there to begin with. My favorites – yogurt and granola, cereal and soy milk, and toast with almond butter.

What are your favorite grab and go breakfasts?

Rosemary Garlic Farro with Chickpeas {Recipe}

Diana — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:06:54 +0000

Thanks to my health-freak dad, I spent many-an-afternoon meandering through the health food store. Unlike other places he liked to shop, like Home Depot or Lowes, the health food store was a place my curiosity could really come out to play. I loved looking at all the unusual foods and products and often wondered what they tasted like or how they were prepared.

As it turns out, this fascination with unique foods has stayed with me to this day.

I love visiting grocery stores, especially health food ones like those my dad would frequent, and finding something I’ve never cooked with before to try out.

One thing I’ve been playing with lately is farro. Farro has been around for quite some time, but it isn’t widely used in most kitchens (at least not the ones I’ve been in…I think I’ve read this grain is actually popular in Italy, though).

While I love this Warm Farro Salad with Tomatoes, Spinach, and Shiitake Mushrooms (which is really more like a farro risotto), I wanted to come up with something a little more hands-off that was also more pantry-friendly. In fact, this recipe would be great for someone who’s new to farro and wondering, “How do you cook farro?” or “What’s an easy recipe for farro?”

This farro dish uses canned chickpeas (straight from the pantry), fresh garlic (I always have this on hand, but you could use dry garlic powder in a bind), and rosemary (which I have growing outside, but again you could you dry).

Rosemary Garlic Farro with Chickpeas

Whether you’re new to farro or very familiar with cooking it, this easy recipe should please your palate. Though it’s not the fastest side dish on the planet, this recipe is super easy and would be a great replacement for boxed rice pilaf. You could even turn it into a vegetarian entree (just add some veggies). Using ingredients found in most kitchens, you should be able to shop your pantry for this dish (in case you haven’t been to the grocery store in awhile). If you don’t have fresh garlic or rosemary, you can substitute dry.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4-6 as a side dish, 2-3 as an entree

*Vegan, Vegetarian*

Ingredients:

1.5 quarts water
handful salt, plus more to taste
1 cup dry farro, rinsed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (or sub 1/2-1 teaspoon dry – if using dry add garlic with rosemary in Step #3)
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth (or sub water)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced (or sub 1 teaspoon dry)
pepper, to taste
fresh parsley, chopped, optional

Directions:

Bring water to boil in a medium-large pot over medium heat. Add salt and farro and boil for about 30 minutes, or until farro is softened enough to easily chew. Pour into colander to drain.
Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet. Add fresh garlic (if using dry, add in next step) and cook till fragrant, about 60 seconds.
Add chick peas, vegetable broth, fresh rosemary, broth, and cooked farro. Stir to combine.
Cook 8-10 minutes to let flavors combine, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, if/as needed.
Serve, top with fresh parsley if using, and enjoy!

Heart-Shaped Mini Pies & Pie Pops {2 Filling Options}

Diana — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:33:00 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I totally meant to post about this earlier. I mean…I made this recipe up over a week ago. Unfortunately work and exhaustion got in the way. But, better late than never, right?

I made a new dessert recipe for Valentine’s Day – Heart-Shaped Mini Pies with strawberry and strawberry/nutella filling.

The recipe features lots of fresh strawberries.

Said strawberries are then stuffed into heart-shaped pieces of pie crust.

The tough part is adding enough of the strawberry filling. I found the overall ratio of pie crust to strawberries to be a bit off, but they were definitely festive. Still, do try to stack your strawberries as high as possible to give a better strawberry flavor.

I cut little arrows into the hearts as my vents and sprinkled sugar on top.

And since the mini hearts are a bit labor-intensive (and I didn’t want to waste any of the dough), I decided to make a large hand-pie of sorts using the remaining pie dough and filling. I made the heart minis with just the strawberries and I added nutella to the hand pie. I wish I had added nutella to all of the pies!

The results were pretty. I love the look of golden-baked dough.

And if you’re feeling really adventurous, you can turn your mini pies into Pie Pops!

Just add a popsicle stick (and maybe some ribbon). I found some at Michael’s in the candy section. I think these would be really cute wrapped in plastic bags with pretty ribbon.

Heart-Shaped Mini Pies {Pie Pops} & a Hand Pie with Strawberry & Nutella Filling

While they aren’t the quickest or easiest project, making these heart-shaped mini pies is a fun activity that you could do with your whole family. Switch up your favorite filling for a different take.

Prep Time: 35 minutes (to make 60-second pie crust and chill the pie crust)
Bake Time: 22-26 minutes
Total Time: 53 – 57 minutes
Serves: 10 Mini Pies and 1 Hand Pie

Ingredients:

1 pie crust (use store-bought or your favorite recipe – I enjoyed this 60-second pie crust recipe)
2 cups strawberries, diced very small
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons tapoica starch (or corn starch)
flour (for rolling out pie crust)
1 egg, lightly beaten
nutella, optional
sanding sugar (for sprinkling on top of the pies)
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, optional
1-2 teaspoons orange juice, optional

Directions:

While your pie crust chills (the recipe I used suggested chilling 30 minutes), combine strawberries, sugar, and tapoica starch in a medium bowl. Stir to combine.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or aluminum foil with a light coat of non-stick spray)
When pie crust is ready, lightly dust a large flat surface for rolling out your dough with flour. Add your pie crust. Rub flour on rolling pin. Roll pie crust out to a pretty thin level (between 1/4 – 1/8 inch thick), turning dough as you go so it doesn’t stick. Use a 2 1/2″ heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out 20 heart-shaped pieces of dough. Set aside remaining dough. Note: You may have noticed I cut some to a smaller size in some photos in this post, but I found the 2 1/2″ version worked better – feel free to use whichever size you prefer.
Move half of the pieces of pie dough to the prepared baking sheet. For each mini pie: Brush dough with egg wash, top with strawberry mixture (try to avoid adding liquid as you go), add about 1/2-1 teaspoon of nutella if using, top with another piece of dough, matching edges and pressing to seal. Press on the edges with the ends of a fork to help seal. Repeat for the rest of the mini pies.
Cut small slits into the tops of each mini pie (I cut little arrows for the Valentine’s Day theme), brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for 22-24 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
While mini pies bake, prepare the hand pie. Gather the rest of the dough, bring pieces together to one ball, and roll out to about 1/4 inch thick, turning dough and adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Note: I left my pie pretty free-form – I didn’t worry about making a perfect circle.
Prepare another baking sheet with parchment paper (or aluminum foil with a light coat of non-stick spray). Carefully transfer the hand pie dough to the baking sheet, centering half of the dough (since you’ll be folding it in half soon). Spoon the rest of the strawberry mixture (trying to avoid adding the liquid) to half of the dough, leaving a roughly 1/2 inch border and the other half of the dough. Add about 1/4 cup of nutella, spreading around strawberries, if using. Brush the edge with the egg wash, fold the dough in half pressing the edges to seal. Press on the edges with the ends of a fork to help seal.
Cut small slits into the top of the hand pie (I cut “LOVE” for the Valentine’s Day theme), brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for 24-26 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Allow each batch (the mini pies and the hand pie) to cool before eating.
Optional icing step: If you don’t use nutella, you’ll probably want to add a bit of icing. I made a quick icing using a mixture of confectioner’s sugar and orange juice, which I just whisked quickly (starting with about 1 teaspoon of the orange juice and adding more as needed) in a bowl and drizzled over the cooled mini pies.

Mini pies sans icing and without popsicle sticks. These guys didn’t last long in our house.

{LOVE-vents in the top of my hand pie}

I’m not gonna lie…these guys were a lot of work, but I did enjoy making them. This project is better if you’re looking to get your hands dirty and enjoy the experience. Personally, I had fun zoning out and focusing on the creation of something delicious. If you want more instant (or at least faster) gratification, consider just making two hand pies.

Are you guys making anything fun for Valentine’s Day?

Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate {Happy National Hot Chocolate Day}

Diana — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:29:31 +0000

Get some cocoa powder, coconut milk, and other milk of choice on your way home from work/school/etc. because you’re going to want to celebrate…

National Hot Chocolate Day!

I heard about the holiday on twitter earlier and decided to whip up something for the special event. I actually tried googling to learn more about the holiday, but as it turns out (like it does with many of these food or at least lesser-known holidays) there are multiple National Hot Chocolate Days. But who needs a legit holiday to celebrate something as simple as hot chocolate, right?

That’s what I’m going with…

WIth my newly-found excuse to make hot chocolate, I decided to work up a recipe for something else inspired by twitter – coconut milk hot chocolate. I tried this once a year or so ago when I heard a twitter friend mention it on a particularly cold and dreary day, except I used 100% coconut milk for the recipe. As it turns out, too much of a good thing really can be…well, not so good. The full-coconut milk hot chocolate was just so-so. I found it to be too thick and rich (perhaps because I was using the canned version instead of the carton type?).

Lesson learned. This time, I followed my trick for making oatmeal with coconut milk – I went 50% coconut milk and 50% something else. When I make oatmeal, the other 50% is usually water. Today, for the hot cocoa, I decided to use some rice milk.

And since I was feeling really festive, I also whipped up (literally) some whipped cream for the top. Mmm…

Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate

It doesn’t have to be National Hot Chocolate Day for you to enjoy this cozy drink. Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate yields a tasty twist on this classic dessert beverage. As for making the drink from scratch…For most of my life I used packaged hot chocolate mixes to make hot chocolate, but from-scratch really takes very little additional effort. I made mine stovetop, but you could easily adjust the recipe to make it quicker in the microwave. Oh, and if you’re feeling particularly lazy, you can try skipping the step of mixing the cocoa powder in a separate bowl by putting it straight in the pot…however, I find that usually creates lumps making the extra step useful. And I only used 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder, which I thought tasted plenty rich, true chocoholics may want to add 1-2 additional teaspoons.

Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 1 (but you can easily multiply for fellow chocoholics)

*Vegetarian, Vegan if you use vegan milks and whipped cream*

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut milk (canned), or sub carton version for a lighter flavor or sub other milk of choice if you really want
1/2 cup rice milk, plus 1-2 tablespoons (or sub other milk of choice, but please read above story before using coconut here, too)
2 rounded teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
sweetener of choice, to taste (I used about 1 teaspoon of agave syrup)
whipped cream, optional, for serving

Directions:

Place coconut milk and 1/2 cup rice milk in a small pot over medium low heat.
Meanwhile, place cocoa powder and extra tablespoon of rice milk in a small bowl. Whisk until a paste/thick mixture forms and powder is absorbed. Add additional tablespoon of rice milk, if needed.
Whisk cocoa mixture into milk mixture. Heat till hot but not boiling.
Pour into a mug and top with whipped cream, if using.
Serve and enjoy once the drink is cool enough to safely drink.

Enjoy!

***

PS: It’s the last day of Eat in Month! Gotta admit…I can’t wait to eat out again! lol

***

Reader question: Are you celebrating National Hot Chocolate Day today? Do you prefer “regular” hot chocolate or a particular flavor?

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie {Recipe} – Good Use of Leftover Canned Pumpkin

Diana — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:58:35 +0000

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Hubby and I had a pretty low key weekend, which was great for me. I’m in serious need of more down time. We pretty much just relaxed, took care of a few things around the house, and enjoyed some good eats. We did get the chance to make it out to a neat exhibition in town – Mummies of the World. I’ve watched a couple historical shows on mummies recently, so it was interesting to see in person.

Anywho, I made something fun this weekend and wanted to share with you guys…

A Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Mmm…

I realize it’s a bit late in the season (or completely past the season…whatevs), but timing hasn’t always been one of my strong points. I had a can of pumpkin I didn’t want taking up space in my pantry till next fall, so I decided to go ahead and open it for some everyday eats.

I based the smoothie on my Blueberry Pie Smoothie with a couple simple ingredient swaps. Pumpkin was obviously the star ingredient, but I also added one of my favorite, staple smoothie ingredients – banana. I think bananas give smoothies a nice texture and add natural sweetness, so I like to include them in most smoothies I make.

Hello beta-carotene!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Here’s a great way to use leftover (and healthful) canned pumpkin. I did a play on my Blueberry Pie Smoothie with a new flavor profile. You could add canned pumpkin to any ole smoothie, but paired with oats, cinnamon, and vanilla, you get a more pie-like flavor, which is way more fun.

Ingredients:

1 cup vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy or dairy milk), sweetened (or use unsweetened milk, dairy or non-dairy – just also add a drop of vanilla and your sweetener of choice, to taste) – see notes above
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 frozen banana
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon pumpkin (this will yield a light pumpkin flavor – add more to taste)
2 ice cubes
dash-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste (or sub pumpkin pie spice)

Directions:

Combine milk and oats in a medium bowl/pyrex and let rest in refrigerator for 5 minutes.
Combine milk/oat mixture, banana, pumpkin, ice cubes, and cinnamon in a blender. Blend till ingredients are combined and smooth, about 1-2 minutes, or until smoothie reaches your desired consistency.
Enjoy!

Tropical {Vitamin} C Blast Green Monster Smoothie

Diana — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:27:39 +0000

I realize in this chilly weather that an ice-cold smoothie probably isn’t the first thing to come to mind, but since we’re still in cold & flu season, this one may…

I was feeling a little run down the other day and in need of a big blast of Vitamin C to ward off any approaching sickness. So, I blended up this little concoction to help the cause.

I call it Tropical {Vitamin} C Blast Green Monster Smoothie.

I picked fruits {and some other goodies} that I had in my freezer and kitchen that I thought were good sources of vitamin C: pineapple, mango, orange juice, bananas, spinach, and…wait for it…parsley.

We’ve talked about the health benefits of spinach before, but did you know parsley is a good source of vitamin C? Yup, it’s not just a pretty face…er…garnish.

Here’s a snippet from whfoods.com:

“In addition to its volatile oils and flavonoids, parsley is an excellent source of two vital nutrients that are also important for the prevention of many diseases: vitamin C and vitamin A (notably through its concentration of the pro-vitamin A carotenoid, beta-carotene).”

Tropical {Vitamin C} Blast Green Monster Smoothie

This smoothie takes me to the tropics flavor-wise, but it’s good for you, too. The smoothie contains a few ingredients that are good sources of vitamin C to help fight off colds and the flu: pineapple, mango, bananas orange juice, spinach, and parsley. Yes – parsley! Just a wee bit. I will warn you – parsley has a strong flavor. If you don’t really like it, you may be better off leaving it out. If you want to add some, err on the side of less-is-more. And if you’re a regular juicer, then, you’ll probably think lots of parsley is delicious.

Total Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 1/2 – 2 cups loosely packed spinach (or sub 1/4 cup frozen spinach)
1 small sprig parsley (about 3 leaves) – see note above for suggestions, optional
1 banana (a frozen banana will give you a thicker consistency, but non-frozen works, too)
5 small pieces of frozen mango, about 1/4-1/3 cup
handful of frozen pineapple pieces, about 1/4-1/3 cup
1/4 cup orange juice
soy milk (or milk of choice, but dairy may curdle with the acidic fruits), as needed to reach desired texture
sweetener of choice, to taste, optional (but you probably won’t need it – the pineapple and bananas are very sweet naturally)

Directions:

In order: place spinach, parsley (if using), banana, mango, pineapple, and orange juice in the blender.
Cover and blend until ingredients are processed and smooth, about 1-2 minutes (if you need, stop and add milk and blend again until smoothie starts blending and/or reaches desired texture). Taste test and if desired, blend in sweetener of choice to taste.
Enjoy!

***

How’s everyone doing with Eat in Month? Things are going pretty well on my end, especially since hubby is really into the challenge this year. With my work hours being pretty insane right now, he’s really been helping out with cooking and cleaning. Bless him!

I’ve updated the Eat in Month Challenge post (click) with links to blogs for those who left comments on the challenge page saying they were participating. I added names (sans links) for those who are playing but do not have blogs/web sites. I noticed a couple other people playing who left comments on other posts here on TCL, so once I find them, I’ll get you added.

If you haven’t commented yet, but you’re playing and you want to see your name in the EIM Challenge participant list, just leave me a comment, and I’ll add it!

Ooh, and fun news on the food front…I saw a neat feature in Real Simple where they did 5 take-out style meals you can easily re-create at home, and I’m working on some of my own so help you EIM-ers curb your take-out cravings.

What are your favorite things to order for take-out?