Happy Valentines Day!

These treats are off to school. I told myself I wasn't going to stay up late to make cookies...but when I saw my son's reaction this morning and couldn't stop thanking me, it was worth it. My son is in the fifth grade so maybe this will be the last year of making treats for his class. I wish time would slow down.

These treats are chocolate cookies with a chocolate mint coating and just a bit of red crystal sugar dashed on there.

Chocolate cookie recipe:

1/2 C. Earth Balance

1/2 C. granulated sugar

1/2 C. powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. egg replacer (Ener-g)

2 T. cold coffee or water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. cocoa powder

1 1/4 + 2 T. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp salt or less

In a mixing bowl cream together Earth Balance and sugars with an electric mixer. While that is being creamed, in a small bowl mix together your egg replacer and liquid of choice. (I try not to use egg replacers in my baked goods but sometimes it is needed). Next add egg replacer mixture and vanilla to the creamed EB & sugar mixture, continue to mix. When that is thoroughly mixed together, incorporate the cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt. When it is completely mixed and a dough is formed, take out and shape into a disk, wrap and refrigerate for an hour or less.

Heat oven to 350. Roll out dough( I rolled in between an 1/8-1/4in.) and cut out with your choice of cookie cutter. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool for about a minute before transfering to cooling rack. I was able to cut out 18 med. size cookies.

Chocolate coating: If I were making these for dessert or gifts I would use better quality chocolate but since it was for the school kids I just used the chocolate chips.

1 12oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 T. vegetable shortening

1 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

sprinkles (optional)

In a double broiler melt chocolate chips and vegetable shortening. To get a thinner chocolate just add more shortening. Once melted stir in the peppermint extract. Next coat your cookies,

it got a bit messy for me. Then I sprinkled on sugar crystals. Once your done set in refrigerater to set the chocolate for about 15-30 min. Then your good to go!

Birthday cake

This is a chocolate cake with mint chocolate mousse filling and mint icing. I made this for my sons 11th birthday last month. He plays the guitar so I thought I'd make him a cake decorated with the notes to "Happy Birthday" on it. It was fun and everybody loved it! The chocolate mousse recipe is from VCTOTW.

Cozy lentil soup and homemade bread

Lentil soup is so easy to make and you don't need a ton of ingredients. This is just a basic recipe consisting of:

Olive oil 2-3 Tbsp.

4 garlic cloves( i love garlic)

2 onions, yellow chopped

1 1/2 Tbsp. thyme

1 C. carrots

1 C. celery

2 tomatoes, diced

1 1/3 C. green lentils, rinsed

6 C. vegetable broth

1 C. or more chard,kale, or any greens(optional)

balsamic vinegar

salt & pepper to taste.

Saute the garlic with the veggies until almost soft. Add the thyme and tomatoes for another minute or so. Add lentils and veggie broth. Bring to boil then simmer covered for 35-40 min. or until lentils are soft. Next if you choose to, it's optional, you can add in your green of choice and stir until wilted. Turn off heat add salt and pepper to taste.

When serving in each bowl you can drizzle a little olive oil and a swirl of balsamic. I like to use a thicker balsamic when I'm drizzling. If you don't have a thicker balsamic you can add regular balsamic to the whole pot, just a couple of dashes and stir in.

Also if you want a kick to it drizzle in some chile pepper olive oil. It rocks!

The whole wheat oatmeal bread recipe comes from Celine at have cake, will travel. Always perfect every time I make it.

GO GREEN

My son is doing his current event today on me! Isn't that cute. I am on a commitee at school that is new this year. It's called GO GREEN. Since we are new to the area, needed to meet people and doing my part at school, this group couldn't be more fitting with what I try to do at home. So we had a write up in the local paper , you can check it out at http://www.syvjournal.com/archive/7/6/3795/about who we are, what we have done and what we have in the works. We had another write up in a different paper the previous week for our donations to People Helping People. My son asked me if he could do his current event on my group and I thought that was really sweet of him. One thing I would like to promote is how our food choices make an impact on our environment but it's a touchy situation. The gal who is the head of the group used to be vegetarian and she said it didn't agree with her. She said she understands choosing veganism for health reasons but not for the animals. We had a somewhat lengthy discussion and it basically went nowhere, so that blows.

Bow tie pasta w/pesto, kale, etc.....

You know when you make a great meal and you keep going back for more. "Just one more bite" you say outloud so everyone hears you. Like that's going to make you feel any less guilty because you know it's not just going to be one more bite. This is one of those pasta dishes. My husband said that this pasta is one of his favorites. It's nice to hear that from your hubby.

Bowtie pasta with pesto, kale, orange bell pepper and roasted cherry tomatoes. A drizzle of olive oil and your ready to dig in. Isn't pretty!

Hiking

Sunday morning before "the big game."

My son (Keaton) and I. What a beautiful day to take a family hike! About 25 minutes from home in the Las Padres National Forrest. There are so many hiking and biking trails, it rocks! We almost made it to the dam, but we didn't want to push our dog farther. She almost died from heat stroke 3 years ago, she was only 2 and it was only 82 degrees out. The vet's didn't know why that happened to her but they said with some tests sent out to a specialist we might have been able to find out. After thousands of $$'s already spent we decided just to take it easy with her. You couldn't tell that she almost didn't make it. Here she cooling down at the bottom of the mountain. That water was cold!

Almond Wafers

My son nailed the taste down for this cookie.
He said it is like a Nilla Wafer. Oh my goodness, it does taste like one! It's light like a wafer but has a subtle taste of almond.

Recipe:
Heat oven to 350.

1/4 c. almond butter
1 tbsp. agave
1/2 c. organic sugar
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 c. soy milk
1 tsp. almond extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix wet ingredients together in bowl. Next add the dry ingredients and stir until combined. The batter is on the soft side. Put ingredients into cookie press or pastry bag with a round tip
(I tried the star tip but the batter was to soft and it melted into a round shape).
Bake for 12 min. until lightly browned. Remove to a rack to cool.
Made about 18 cookies but can make more if you press out smaller sizes.