Archives for June 2016

5-Ingredient Chewy Cinnamon Cookies (Vegan and Grain-Free!)

June 26, 2016 By Alana Leave a Comment

I’ve been having some trouble with will power lately. Specifically when it comes to sugar cravings. It all started with my wedding a couple weeks ago (yay!) when the catering company left us an entire fridge shelf filled with gluten-free mini key lime pies. Suddenly, it was key lime pie for breakfast, snack, “lunch dessert” (which normally does not exist in my household), and of course, dinner dessert. Yeah – a mini key lime pie is one of those awesome desserts you can justify eating for breakfast – I mean, you’d eat a lemon bar, right? What’s the diff?

After the pie fiasco, I was at my local grocery store when I spotted a ridiculous sale: THREE Ben and Jerry’s ice creams for ten bucks. WHAT?! That’s basically like getting a whole pint of ice cream free, given that the lowest price I’ve ever seen for Ben and Jerry’s is around five bucks. I’m actually not a huge purchaser of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream because it has a LOT of crap in it compared to other comparable brands like Haagan-Dazs (and when I do buy ice cream I normally try to buy organic, grass fed milk, etc. anyway which rules out both of the above-mentioned big guys) but…I mean three pints for ten bucks?! And Ben and Jerry have been super politically involved lately – I should support them for that, right? I don’t know if I’m convincing you, but I sure convinced myself.

Now, once you have three pints of ice cream in your freezer, it is very, VERY hard not to indulge at every possible occasion. Especially when your freezer is packed full as can be and you can barely close the door because of all the gluten-free flours you have stuck inside. So really, every time I went to the freezer to get some ice cream, I was actually just doing my duty to clean it out. Three pints take up a lot of space, and we needed that space.

Which leads me to these cinnamon cookies. Another way to clear freezer space, of course. I had just 1/2 a cup of white sugar left – so why not make some cookies and get rid of the bag? I would actually be ridding my freezer of sugar in the long run, so it was totally justifiable. In fact, these cookies would be great mixed in to some of my remaining ice cream …

Okay, so you can see how things might have spiraled a bit out of control. But hear me out – the recipe for these cookies is actually super awesome. And if you are going through something similar and want to indulge a sugar craving fast, these guys are really quick and easy. Just five ingredients, completely grain-free, completely vegan, lovely cinnamon flavor, wonderful chewy texture. Make them! You can stop eating sugar tomorrow.

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Trio of Dips

June 18, 2016 By Alana 1 Comment

Why is dipping food into other food so much fun?! If I like the dipping instrument and the dipping matter, I could probably be completely content for hours on end just taking a chip, dipping it into something creamy, taking a carrot, dipping it into something spicy, taking a strawberry, dipping it into a pool of melted chocolate … whoever invented dipping was seriously a genius.

And dips are laughably easy to make, too. The creamy harissa one in this post, for example, is as simple as stirring together harissa and yogurt, with maybe a bit of mayo thrown in there for good measure. That’s it! And it tastes four times as good as a creamy harissa dip you might purchase at the store – complete with a bunch of “dehydrated milk powder” and other random ingredients they have to throw in there so it doesn’t go bad while it’s waiting to be purchased. Making dips at home is definitely the way to go – both in terms of quality and taste and in terms of your wallet. (Extra points if you decide to make your own harissa too – I buy a really good brand that’s cost effective and doesn’t have any yuck ingredients in it so I just used that.)

How do you make a fabulous dip? Easy. Just think about what ingredients might go well together, then mix ’em up. If your dip doesn’t quite pop, you might need to add some acid (lemon, lime, vinegar, etc.) and if it doesn’t taste quite balanced, try adding a tiny bit of sweetener (honey, maple syrup, agave, etc.) If you want your dip to be creamy, you can use sour cream, mayo, yogurt, avocado, hemp seeds, etc. For spice, throw in some cayenne or some kind of spice paste (like harissa or Asian chili paste). Spicy components go great with creamy or sweet elements, and sweet components go great with sour ones. Experiment and have fun!

To get you started, today I’m sharing a trio of dips that would be perfect to take with you on a Father’s Day picnic – or any other kind of picnic – or to eat on your front porch, balcony, etc. We’ve got the aforementioned spicy, creamy harissa dip; a savory, protein-packed avocado-hemp dip; and a deliciously refreshing mango-poblano. That last one has some fresh tomatillo, basil, lime, and cumin in it as well and is the perfect counterpart to the savory avocado and spicy harissa.

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Summer Buckwheat Noodle Salad

June 1, 2016 By Alana Leave a Comment

I guess I maybe shouldn’t have complained about the lack of hot weather in my last post. Because now we’ve got it…bad. I know it’s not officially summer yet (and the weather is actually pretty nice when you’re lucky enough to get outside) but it’s so hot inside my apartment that the familiar summer sluggishness has definitely set in for me. I don’t feel like eating much, and when I do, it better be light and refreshing if I’m expected to eat more than a mouthful or two!

Hence this salad. The only part that requires the stove at all is boiling water for the buckwheat noodles. Easy peasy. It’s nice and light – more of a side than an entree – but if you wanted to make it more substantial, you could easily add some fried tofu and/or egg. Buckwheat noodles are tossed with fresh cabbage, carrots, scallion, and cilantro, doused in a light Asian-inspired vinaigrette, and topped with some roasted peanuts and crispy ginger. Sounds pretty good, right? It is!

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