Peanut Butter Cookies (Vegan)

We tried these peanut butter cookies a couple months ago and they were really good.  If you know anything about Vegan desserts, they are often very involved, time-consuming and include special ingredients.  This recipe is awesome because it's quick and easy and it doesn't have any uncommon ingredients.  I'm anxious to try substituting the applesauce with bananas (Heather's idea, not mine).

Thank you Chocolate Covered Katie for the recipe!


Peanut Butter Secrets
Delicious peanut butter cookies!

• 1/2 cup peanut butter 
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 tbsp whole-wheat pastry flour (or white or a gf mix)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar (Brown Sugar is not vegan)
• 2 tbsp applesauce
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• optional: pinch salt (Taste the batter to decide.)

Mix dry ingredients very well. Then add wet and form cookie balls. If you want soft cookies, fridge the dough for at least an hour. Then bake in a preheated oven (350F) for 8 minutes. They’ll look underdone when you take them out, but that’s ok. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from tray.

To keep them soft, store leftover cookies in a plastic container. This recipe will make about 15-22 cookies, depending on how big you roll them. (For 22 cookies, they’ll have 50 calories per cookie.)

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/12/11/secret-peanut-butter-cookies/

Perfect Fall Soup

Butternut Squash with Kale & White Bean Soup

 

 http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/440

Fire up the Grill!

There is nothing better than grilled veggies!  Before throwing them on the grill, season them with sea salt, rosemary, and a little olive oil.  Enjoy them on a homemade panini, toss them in with a salad, make fajitas or eat them just the way they are. The possibilities are endless and delicious.

If You Eat Food, This is Your Fight.

We are entering the home stretch of the most important food policy fight in your lifetime. Prop 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, is a November 6 grassroots-powered, citizens’ ballot initiative that has huge implications for the future of food in this country.  Read More...

You can donate here to fight Monsanto:
http://organicconsumersfund.org/donate/david-goliath.cfm

I love OrganicGirl!

I just thought I would share another one of my favorite products... OrganicGirl greens and salad mixes are the best. Not just because they're organic but because they have some truly delicious, healthful and original salad mixes!   Our favorites are the Super Greens mix and the Baby Arugula. If you visit OrganicGirl's website and join their email list - you'll get a coupon for signing up and then periodically by email.

EAT YOUR GREENS!

www.iloveorganicgirl.com

A new, exciting twist on hummus...

Whole Foods was sampling "roots" brand of hummus last week and I fell in love. The roots brand "Thai Coconut Curry" hummus was fantastic. Very different than traditional hummus and very addictive. It's made in Asheville so it's a local company to us North Carolinians! Give it a try - I bought some of those sea salt lentil chips to eat it with and it was a great, healthy snack!

Good for India! When is the US going to smarten up?

India Moves to Not Only Label GMO Foods, But to Ban GMO Crops as Well

In very bad news for Monsanto, India, the largest agricultural nation in the world, not only plans to label GMO foods, but appears likely to ban GMO crops as well.

Read more

FABULOUS & EASY Lentil Soup Recipe

This soup was so delicious that I had to post it!  With Fall right around the corner, I'm excited to have a new soup in my recipe arsenal.  As you can tell from my terrible BlackBerry photography, I test all recipes before posting them here.  :)

 Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 pound lentils, rinsed (I used the beautiful Autumn Blend from Whole Foods)
• 8 cups water 
• Vegan Bouillon Cubes (I used 3 of Rapunzel brand with Sea Salt & Herbs)*
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander 
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cumin

Our "Kind" Labor Day weekend...

We had a fantastic Labor Day weekend with our family and it was completely plant-based!  It was awesome to be able to get together and eat healthy!

Here was the menu for our main course:

• Quinoa Black Bean burgers with guacamole (Kind Life recipe previously posted)
• Grilled mixed veggie kabobs with a ginger soy marinade (from Rachel Ray's Soba Noodle Salad Recipe)
• Marinated Italian Eggplant Salad (I did my best to duplicate the post below)
• Arugula Salad with Israeli Couscous in a lemon dijon shallot vinaigrette

For dessert we had some delicious soft peanut butter cookies.

See my September post for Peanut Butter Cookies for the recipe! 

Enjoy!

One of my new favorite things on the Whole Foods Bar!

This salad was outstanding - it kind of reminded me of Cucumber Tomato Salad!

I'm attempting to make it tonight - we'll see how it turns out!

UPDATE:  I think I got it close. Here's what I did:

• 1 large raw eggplant (peeled and cubed)
• 3 heirloom tomatoes, chopped (an orange, a yellow and a red)
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thin
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 3 tablespoons of fresh parsley
• S&P to taste
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup EVOO
• 4 cloves of fresh garlic (minced)

Combine last 5 ingredients and whisk. Add in the raw veggies until evenly covered with dressing and refrigerate a few hours before serving.

Tell Congress: No Free Pass for Monsanto!

Please take a few moments to read the information on this site and watch the video. They're adding more and more genetically modified crops everyday. Do your part and take action against GMOs!

http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=61552966&type=TA

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_25809.cfm

STOP - Read These Very Compelling Statistics!

The Facts About Eating Animal Products
These were too good not to share... I put the most interesting ones in BLUE.

The Hunger Argument:
Number of People worldwide who will die of starvation this year: 60 million
Number of people who could be adequately fed with the grain saved if Americans reduced meat intake by 10%: 60 million
Human beings in America: 296 million
Number of people who could be fed with grain and soybeans now eaten by US livestock: 1.3 billion

Most Common Genetically Modified Foods

Curious about which foods are most commonly genetically modified?  Find out by reviewing
Step 1 of the WikiHow - how to avoid Genetically modified foods

Here's a link to the USDA Organic website for consumers which answered a lot of the questions I had.  For example, in order for a product to be labeled "Organic", the product must contain at least 95% organically produced ingredients.  Happy reading!

USDA Organic Website for Consumers

Edamame Salad with Mint

I found this recipe on the "What did you eat" blog - it was adapted from a recipe in Sunset Magazine.

This stuff is delicious, quick and perfect as a side or just a healthy snack.