Recipe: Creamy Green Smoothie

I get headaches. Lots of headaches. Most of them are pretty low-grade, but I also get migraines on a regular basis. Someone suggested that I try trace minerals as a way to prevent headaches and shorten their length. I'm willing to try pretty much anything at this point, so I purchased a three-month supply (with only the happiest and best of thoughts).

I'm on the fourth day of adding trace minerals to my day... and no headache today (I've had a headache almost consistently from Thanksgiving). I'm optimistic. In full disclosure, I've also started (and had my dosage upped) a prescription to try to break the headaches, so it could be that as well, or the combination of the two. I'm also trying to be really intentional about drinking lots of water, though this hasn't seemed to make any difference in the past.

The trace minerals are a little disgusting-tasting. I tried adding them to water, but it made it taste like really strong well water. No bueno.

So I've been making daily smoothies to put by drops in. I thought tonight's was particularly yummy and tangy, and so I'm sharing. Granted, as I parsed out the calories in this bad boy, it would be a much better breakfast smoothie, but it seemed like a better nutritional choice than the coconut sorbet in the freezer, so we'll call it a win-win.


Creamy Green Smoothie
One large or two small servings. You can use a whole avocado if you want to, just be aware they are quite calorie-laden.

1/2 avocado
2 kiwis, peeled
1/4 cup chopped pineapple (frozen, preferably)
1/3 cup chopped mango (frozen, preferably)
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup unsweetened soy, almond, or coconut milk

Pop everything in your blender, adding water as needed until you've reached your desired consistency. If you don't have frozen fruit, you may want to add some ice as well.

Nutritional Information (for 1 serving):
380 Calories
18 grams of fat
8.4 grams of protein
Good source of dietary fiber and iron, and very high in Vitamin C

Recipe: Cookie Butter Cookies!

Photo from Trader Joes

I win the love and affection of my neighbors by baking constantly and then shoving my baked goods at them. This does good things for me: our elderly next-door neighbor leaves us the NY Times crossword every morning in exchange for whatever chocolate goodies I bake up, and our neighbors across the hall rave about whatever I make send their way, which feeds my enlarged baking ego. It's a win all around.

Ian and I bundled the baby up this afternoon and took the train down to our local Trader Joe's to shop for the week. Someone had actually stacked jars of peanut butter in front of the TJ's cookie butter, but I was a dedicated (if not obsessive) hunter, and uncovered a precious jar so I could make some cookie butter cookies. (And, let's be honest, eat this stuff straight from the jar).

I know it sounds counter-intuitive. After all, isn't cookie butter made from... cookies? Yes, it is, so yes, these cookies are... cookie flavored. But I've been obsessed with making these cookies after uncovering a vegan cookies list on Food52 a few nights ago (which for the life of me, I cannot find to link to this evening, my apologies).

[Please note the gorgeous picture below isn't, mine. I did actually take pictures of my cookies, but of course cannot find my adapter to connect the camera to my computer]

Photo from http://havecakewilltravel.com/2009/10/13/tripping-over-speculoos/

They are AMAZING, best served about 5 minutes out of the oven, when they're still soft and gooey.

Cookie Butter Cookies

Adapted from Have Cake, Will Travel

Makes approximately 24 cookies.
If you want a much crunchier cookie, reduce the soy/almond milk to 3-4 tablespoons.

Ingredients

2/3 cup Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 Tbsp unsweetened soy/almond milk

Directions

Heat over to 350°F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix the cookie butter, both sugars, the salt and cinnamon in a large bowl until well combined. You may need to use your hands to get it smooth.

Sift the flour and baking soda over the cookie butter mixture, and combine. Again, you may have to use your hands here.

Add half the soy milk (3 Tbsp) and combine, then add the rest. The cookie dough will be thick. If it is still crumbling a little bit, add another tablespoon of your milk substitute.

Roll cookies into balls, about 1-inch in diameter (roughly a rounded tablespoon). Drop them a good 2 inches apart from each other the baking sheet. I was able to fit around eight on a cookie sheet at a time.

Bake for 10-11 minutes until the cookies have spread, cracked on top, and are starting to lightly brown.

Recipe: Coconut Banana Scones

I love scones. There is nothing quite like a scone on a cool, stormy morning. To sit and sip tea, while eating a flaky, slightly-sweet pastry is a little blissful.

I made my first batch of vegan scones about a week ago, based on a mostly-healthy blackberry scone recipe I enjoyed awhile back. They didn't turn out great. It was probably because I wanted to experiment with not using an egg replacer (EnerG), and so replaced my eggs with applesauce and almond yogurt. The scones were too moist, and the texture was all wrong. We still ate them, of course, but it wasn't a success. I will probably try again with EnerG (sigh), who knows.

When I woke up this morning, it seemed like a good time to try again. Ian was sleeping in, so I put Felicity in the kitchen with me (to play in a box, I'm not going to lie), and got to work. I'm pretty proud of what I came up with.

Coconut Banana Scones
These scones have a nice texture with small pieces of coconut throughout. If you would like a more consistent texture, you could mix the dry ingredients in a food processor, and process in the coconut oil, and the banana mixture. You would just need to be very careful to not overmix.

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2  tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)
1/4 cup sucanat (can be eliminated if you prefer more of lightly sweetened scone)
1/4 cup coconut oil, in solid form
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup coconut milk

Heat oven to 375F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper

Combine the flours, salt, baking powder, coconut flakes, and sugar (if using). Stir in coconut oil until mixture forms into small crumbs.

Whisk the mashed bananas and coconut milk until well blended. It is okay if your mixture has some banana chunks. Pour this into the dry mix, stirring until just blended.

Drop dough onto well-floured surface and shape into a disk about 1 inch high, 9 inches round. Slice into triangles (batter will be very loose, so this may be a little difficult), and slide them carefully onto your prepared pan.

Alternatively, you could just drop the dough onto your prepared sheet, I imagine about 1/3 cup of batter would be about right (?).

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown. Enjoy!

Recipe: Peanut Butter & Chocolate Energy Bites [Energy Bite Attempt #1]

You've heard that pregnant women are ravenous and eat all the time, right? Crave weird things? Always eating? Sounds familiar. It's true that your body burns about an 300-400 calories a day while you're pregnant, building that baby and all that. What you probably don't know (unless you've been through it yourself) is that you burn 500-600 extra calories a day nursing. And you are freaking hungry all the time. Especially when you make the transition to a plant-based diet and are eating lower-calorie meals, even if you are cramming your face at mealtimes.

In fact, in a recent study, 100% of Ians polled about their wives' hunger complaints were, to quote "fed up." One annoyed source said, "We ate like two hours ago. Seriously!"

The latest scientific data on Ians and their wives' hunger.

After spending admittedly way too much time on Pinterest lately, I've come across dozens of recipes for vegan energy balls. Apparently, there are a million ways to make these. What a great solution to my nearly-always gnawing sense of hunger!

Today was the first attempt, and I give it a B on the success scale. Easy? Super. Delicious? Yup. But the texture isn't quite right; they're a little crumbly and it was difficult to roll them into balls. I also think I would toast my wheat germ next time as there is a bit of a grainy aftertaste. They firmed up nicely though, so maybe I needed to chill them for more than 30 minutes.

But, and I can say this confidently as I was "helping" my mix as I was making it, these fit the bill, at least for now. Ian is also a little obsessed.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Energy Bites [Energy Bite Attempt #1]
These should make around 24 bites. Or a little less if you happen to sample the dough a few times while you're mixing it to make sure it's absolutely delicious.

Ingredients
 - 1 cup oatmeal
 - 2/3 cup unsweetened, raw coconut flakes
 - 1/2 cup ground wheat germ (I would like to try ground flax seeds next time, or toast and then chill the wheat germ in advance)
 - 1/2 to 2/3 cup natural, unsweetened peanut butter (I used a 1/2 cup and I think it needs more)
 - 1/3 cup agave nectar
 - 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
 - 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the oatmeal, coconut, and wheat germ/ground flax together.
2. Add the peanut butter, agave nectar, and vanilla and stir until combined. Add the chocolate chips.
3. Cover and refrigerate dough for 30-60 minutes.
4. Shape dough into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter by grabbing a large spoonful of dough, compressing in your palms a few times, and then rolling between your palms to smooth.
5. Keep the energy bites refrigerated; most of the recipes I looked at said they should keep for about one week (as if they'll last that long!).

The Energy Bites are around 85 calories each with 3 grams of protein.

Variation #1: For the nut-lover, omit chocolate chips and add chopped walnuts instead. About 90 calories per Energy Bite, protein increases to 5.5 grams.

Variation #2: Omit chocolate chips and add 1/2 chopped craisins. About 85 calories per Energy Bite with 3.5g protein.