Summer Snickerdoodles

The title of this post is a little misleading - there's nothing particularly summery about these snickerdoodles, aside from the fact that it's summer right now and I'm currently finishing off the last cookie in this batch. You can totally be a rebel and make these in the winter, too!

Snickerdoodles are never the first cookie to pop into my mind when I'm trying to decide what to bake, but I'm never mad when I do end up cranking out a batch of them. I like to make these cookie fatty and fluffy rather than chewy, and of course to douse them with a healthy coating of sweet, crispy cinnamon sugar. The coconut oil in this recipe makes these little guys extra fragrant, too, so your kitchen will smell particularly delicious!

Snickerdoodles
Makes 18 small cookies

1¼ cup flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup Earth Balance
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon

In a medium bowl, whisk together all your dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Separately, melt the Earth Balance and coconut oil, then pour in the maple syrup, soy milk, and vanilla, and stir everything up really well.

Me gusta la canela, me gustas tu. 

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and use a wooden spoon to form a soft, slightly sticky dough. It'll come together quickly and easily, so no need to bust out the electric mixer for this! Once all the ingredients are evenly incorporated, cover the bowl with a towel or some plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge. You want to get these nice and cold so that it's easier to make snickerdoodle snowballs.

Exhibit A. 

When you're ready to bake some cookies, preheat the oven to 375 F and cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Now grab that extra sugar and cinnamon, pour it into a shallow bowl, and mix it up really well. Scoop the dough up into little golf ball-sized nuggets and roll them around in the cinnamon sugary goodness to completely coat them.

Like little donut holes!

You can flatten the balls out a little bit with your fingers or the bottom of a drinking glass once you put them on the cookie sheet, but you don't have to - they're small enough that they'll bake quickly and evenly either way. Pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the tops are firm and the bottoms are getting a tiny bit golden brown, then let them cool slightly before enjoying with some afternoon coffee or tea!

Not-So-Krabby Patties

Okay, let's talk about veggie burgers for a sec. Veggie burgers can be delicious and flavorful and full of nice things like beans and grains, or they can be horrendous processed little frisbees that are dry and crumby and blerhgh. Since we have a solid month of summer and grilling left this year, do your mouth a favor - skip the cardboard crap and try out these amazing Black Bean Burgers instead!

I'm actually surprised that we managed to capture photographic evidence of this nomtastic burger, because I  inhaled it within 5 minutes flat. It's super flavorful, and leaving half of the black beans whole and coating the outside of the patty with quinoa gives it a really great texture. The recipe looks a little complicated, but it's actually much easier than I expected - I'm going to make a big batch of these soon and freeze them, so that I have a quick and tasty meal on hand for busy weeknights. Or just so I can do this after my next long run:

Black Bean Burgers

adapted from the always incredible Love & Lemons

Makes 4 patties

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 

¼ cup cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours
¼ cup grated carrot

1 tablespoon steak sauce

2 tablespoons Sriracha (for a more mellow burger, substitute with 1 tablespoon ketchup and 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar)

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne

½ teaspoon mustard
¾ cup cooked quinoa
olive oil, to coat your pan and drizzle over the patties

salt and pepper, to taste

Toss the onion and garlic, along with a little bit of olive oil, into a pan set over medium heat. Cook these up until the onions are translucent and everything smells nice and garlicky. Add 1/2 cup of the black beans, the cashews, the grated carrots, and all your sauces and spices into the pan as well, and saute for about 3 minutes, until everything is heated through and the beans are getting pretty soft. 

Turn off the heat and let this mixture cool for a few minutes. In the meantime, grab a bowl and mix together the remaining 1/2 cup of black beans and 1/2 cup of the cooked quinoa. Take the rest of the quinoa and spread it out over a small plate - you'll need this for the last step!

Throw all the deliciousness you've cooked up in the saucepan into a blender or food processor. Whip it around until it comes together into a big mushy ball, stopping to scrape down the sides of your blender a couple of times to catch those errant beans. The mixture doesn't have to be completely smooth, but it should be fairly blended up and unappealing at this point (hence the lack of photos).

Dump the contents of your blender into the bowl of black beans and quinoa, and gently fold until everything is evenly distributed. Feel free to taste test the mixture and add salt and pepper as needed. Now for the fun part! Divide the patty mixture into four little balls, then roll each ball around in the plate of quinoa you set aside earlier. Once it's completely coated, smoosh it down with your hands to form a patty and set it on a plate. When you're done with all four patties, stick the plate into the fridge for half an hour to let everything cool down and set up. In the meantime, you can clean up and prep your burger fixings!

Preheat your oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Gently slide your patties onto the sheet and stick them in the oven for about 10 minutes. Then take them out, carefully flip them, and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the top of the patties feel dry and non-squishy. Toast your buns, slather on the ketchup and mustard, and enjoy!

This Shit is Bananas

B-A-N-A-N-A-S! I spent the weekend moving into a lovely new apartment in Southwest DC and have had little access to a functioning kitchen, and so this week I'm sharing a super quick but incredibly tasty recipe: Chocolate-Covered Bananas.

Have you guys ever heard of a little store called Trader Joe's? No? Well, this fine establishment carries a wide variety of delicious snacks and sweet treats, including an out-of-this-world version of this dessert called Go Bananas. Oh Joe. The chocolate is perfectly crunchy and smooth, and the fruit inside is really soft and not overly banana-y.  My only complaint is that are only like, 20 pieces in a box, which is just unreasonable given how addicting these little banana bites are.

Luckily, Susan at The View from Great Island came up with a really easy recipe that allows you to recreate the Trader Joe's magic right in the privacy of your very own kitchen, where no one has to know exactly how many chocolatey bananas you scarf down. But they're technically fruit, right? Delicious and nutritious.

Enjoy the photos below, then click on over to The View from Great Island and make these bad boys for yourself!

Vinaigrette Nirvana

I just back from a fabulous trip to California, where I spent my time drinking wine, eating unreasonable quantities of avocado, and catching up with some incredibly lovely people. Now I'm back in DC, halfway moved into my new apartment, and my belly is full of Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Chili Lime Vinaigrette...life is pretty damn great.

We've already established that sweet potatoes are a magical root, and of course we've covered the fact stuffing one delicious food into another delicious food is usually a good idea. What really takes this dish to another level, though, is the vinaigrette. Flavor explosion, guys!

The smoothness of the maple syrup, the bite of the chili, and the tang of the lime all perfectly complement the sweet potatoes and their stuffing. The result is an incredible combination of sweet, spicy, sour, and salty that can easily be adjusted as necessary to achieve your personal version of a perfect vinaigrette.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Chili Lime Vinaigrette 
Inspired by Maya at Alaska from Scratch

Serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as an appetizer

2 medium sweet potatoes
¼ onion, diced
½ cup corn, rinsed and drained
½ cup black beans, rinsed and drained
juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil, to coat your pan

Preheat your oven to 450 F and line a medium baking pan with aluminum foil. Wash your sweet potatoes really well, then prick them all over with a fork and grease them up with a little bit of olive oil. Then wrap them up in some more aluminum foil so that they look like lumpy mini burritos. Pop them onto the pan and into the oven for about 40 minutes, or until you can easily pierce the potato with a fork. When they're done, take the spuds out of the oven and open up their foil jackets so that they cool off a bit before you put your paws all over them.

Once the potatoes are cool, cut them in half and carefully scoop out their delicious orange innards, making sure to leave enough attached to the skin so that the whole potato half doesn't completely collapse. Toss the  into a bowl and mash up a bit so that there aren't any massive chunks. Put the skins back into the baking pan and set aside for a minute while you make the stuffing.

Grab a large saucepan, drizzle some olive oil on it, and cook the diced onions over medium heat for about 2 minutes. As soon as they start to smell nice and oniony, add the corn and black beans. Cook just until they're heated all the way through, then add the sweet potato flesh and stir everything around vigorously to make sure all the goodies are evenly spread through the mixture. You can add a little salt and pepper at this point if you'd like, but it's not necessary - the vinaigrette will provide plenty of flavor.

Use a large spoon to scoop  the stuffing into the waiting sweet potato skins, filling them all the way up until they look like little orange mountains. Back into the oven they go! Set your timer for 15 minutes. While your stuffed potatoes are roasting away, it's time to make the vinaigrette. Just pour the lime juice, maple syrup, chili powder, garlic powder, and chopped cilantro into a small bowl and whisk it all up. Add salt and pepper to taste. I tried to take a picture but there's literally no way to make this vinaigrette not look like bits of grass floating in muddy water...so if that's what you're looking at in your own kitchen, you're on the right track.

At this point your timer should have about 5 minutes left for the potatoes, right? Perfect. Drizzle that delicious vinaigrette over each potato half, then stick the pan back into the oven. Wait patiently for 5 more minutes, and then you're done! You can top your stuffed sweet potatoes with chopped green onions, more cilantro, or sliced avocado - enjoy!