Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Surprise Cookies and an Underwhelming Lasagna

Veggie "Basagna"
I had a request for "basagna" on the weekend and as much as I enjoy eating lasagna, I haven't yet mastered or found a vegan version that satisfies me.  There is always something missing, a richness or sauciness that I used to love about eating it in my pre-vegan days.   I guess I just haven't found the right recipe or combination of sauces and fillings. 

For my weekly cooking challenge I decided to combine ideas from three or four recipes.  It didn't turn out well enough for me to want to post the recipe but I'll keep working on it and share the improved version later.  I added sauteed scallion, carrots, red peppers and spinach to the tofu ricotta mixture which was quite tasty and I also added a layer of eggplant with the tomato sauce.   It definitely needed extra tomato sauce ladeled over the top when served.

While I was busy cooking components for the lasagna, my daughter was whipping up her own creation in a bowl on the kitchen table.  After taking a look at the mushed up fruit and nuts in the bowl I suggested we add a bit of flour and oats and see if her "dough" would bake up into cookies.   We were very excited to see if the experiment would work.  She insisted on adding a spice so we settled on nutmeg.   Here follows the ingredients with very rough measurements, it made seven cookies that were surprisingly tasty with no added sweetener!  I really enjoyed the peanuts in the cookies and although the name implies crunchiness, they were actually quite moist and soft on the inside. 

Yum-Crunch Delicious Cookies

1 banana mashed
1/4 peach chopped into tiny pieces
1 or 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
1/4 cup rice crisps
1 tsp lemon Juice
2 tablespoons soy milk
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup oats
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Smush wet ingredients together with a potato masher until well blended and then add dry ingredients and mix well.   Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 18 minutes.   Enjoy! 

Yum-Crunch Delicious Cookies!

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My friends Kika and Kathryn were busy in the kitchen last week.    Kika made a super delicous looking Mung Bean and Carrot Salad with a few variations, check it out at her lovely bilingual blog named Come Compa here. 

It looks like Kathryn baked a successful batch of Irish Soda Bread in honour of St. Patrick's day, here is her post at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen.

5 comments:

  1. Mmmm! I think the cookies look delicious. Kudos to you for being so encouraging of Maggie's budding culinary efforts; it is certainly much tastier than anything I whipped up using my imagination back when I was her age ;-p

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  2. What creative cookies! Love them! And they look delicious.

    The lasagna looks good. I love tofu ricotta, and I never even was much of a fan of animal based ricotta cheese.

    I hope you find/create a lasagna recipe you love!

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  3. Can't wait to make your lasagna when you've perfected the recipe! And yay for Maggie and her cookies. They look yummy and VERY healthy! Good job!

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  4. I love cooking challenges! Please tell me more about yours? Have you heard of the bloggosphere Whip Up Something New Challenge? Not all vegan, but vegetarian/vegan recipes are submitted and the more the merrier. ;)

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  5. Hi gnoegnoe! No, I've never heard of that challenge but I'll check it out. I just made up my own challenge to encourage myself to cook a new recipe once a week.

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Comments are welcome!