A Match Made in (Air Fryer) Heaven

Two years ago, before going plant based, I would never have thought that I’d be eating two pounds of  vegetables in one day, let alone one meal. Even now, two pounds of zucchini (and summer squash) steamed or stir fried would probably still be a little much, in both volume and taste ... at least for me. I like zucchini. It’s great in my banana, zucchini, oat breakfast cookies. I’ll add it as a “filler” to a lot of recipes to bulk them up, but I wouldn’t really say I love zucchini. Until today … when I introduced it to my air fryer. (Zuke, meet Breville … Brev, meet  zucchini.) A match made in air fryer heaven and now those two pounds of simple, unassuming squash are anything but.

Thirty minutes @ 400 degrees on super convection and I have a super delicious start to my day. Veggies for breakfast, oh yeah!  Air frying vegetables, much like roasting, concentrates the flavor and brings out the sweetness as the moisture content is released. And what I had on my plate this morning tasted almost like, dare I say it, candy. I can’t believe I’m saying that (ok, typing that), because the first time I heard Chef AJ say that her air fried zucchini tasted like candy, I was like … uh huh … yeah sure. But, I kid you not, what I just ate for breakfast was as satisfying as any candy … more so, actually. If I had eaten candy (or waffles or pancakes or cinnamon rolls or any other sweet breakfast foods) my taste buds would be on hyper drive and I’d be wanting more and more and more … and more.

So this was a great savory way to start my day. I did drizzle the finished product with a little of my California Vinegars. I mixed Sweet Heat, Teriyaki and Gilroy Garlic. Just the tiniest amount of each. And, honestly, these sweet little squash spears were good to go just plain naked too. Didn’t even need salt. Could I have dressed them up more? Sure. I could have dredged them in aquafaba and rolled them in some seasoned panko crumbs and faux parmesan. And I just may do that when I have the time and inclination. But this … this I will definitely be doing again. This just might be my new morning favorite.

Mud Cookies ... a (delicious, decadent) blast from the past

I've been eating these all week … so I deserved a treat!

I have been getting back on track the past week, after over a year of on again, off again that has taken a toll on my health and caused me to gain back 20+ pounds of the 127 I had lost. But that's OK. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And I know what I need to do. I have just, up until the past week or so, felt powerless to do so. Depression … complicated grief, life, etc. have taken its toll, but, thankfully, this week I am doing better. I see the light at the end of this tunnel.

So the past week has been full of chopped salads, air fried potatoes, veggies and hummus, rice cakes and tzatziki and fresh fruit. Up until last night. While my cravings for sugar and fat have subsided, measurably, from previous weeks (thanks, I'm sure, to the whole food, plant based, no oil, way of eating I have returned to) I did find myself wanting something chocolate. I wouldn't really call it a craving. It was something I think I could have resisted with some fruit, but I was feeling inventive and decided to try and make something yummy and chocolate that was still compatible with a WFPBNO way of eating.

A childhood favorite, now veganized!

And I did it! I have perfected the vegan, low fat mud cookie!  And while the name might not sound particularly appetizing, let me assure you they are (were!) delicious! I think these were actually called chocolate drop quickies in my mom's 1960s Betty Crocker cookbook. However, when I was growing up, we called them mud cookies. I have scaled the recipe back, omitted the butter it called for, opted for a plant based milk and replaced peanut butter with a defatted peanut flour. I couldn't get around the sugar … at least not yet. I'll continue to work on it … enjoying delicious, decadent, plant based cookies (every once in a while) until I do. While I wouldn't consider these healthy, by any stretch, this recipe tastes and has a mouth feel identical to the original  …if not better. They took me back to my childhood and it was a nice trip.

Mud Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cane sugar

3 tbsp almond milk

3 tbsp PB2 (or other defatted peanut flour)

1 tbsp cocoa

1/4 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup quick oats (possibly a little more)

1. Whisk 1st four ingredients together in a small saucepan. I used a one quart saucepan.

2.  Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat and boil two minutes.

3.  Remove from heat. Add vanilla and oats and stir quickly to combine. Check if any more oats are needed at this point to make sure they are "setting up." I had to add just a little more, but didn't measure the additional.

4.  Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper or a silicone mat. Allow to set up and enjoy! (I actually put mine in the freezer to set up faster.)

It's Complicated ...

You’d think salad dressing recipes and grief are two totally unrelated topics that don’t belong in the same blog post … right?! Well, you’d think so, but here you go … 

I haven’t blogged for over a year. So to my many, OK … four, followers, I do apologize for leaving you hanging. You have missed me, right? I just haven’t felt the motivation or inclination to write. It seems kinda ironic that my last post in June 2018 was titled, “How Blogging Has Helped Me and How it May Help You.”  Perhaps I should re-read it myself, but as I said I haven’t been motivated, stimulated, inclinated (if that’s a word) or any other kind of “ated” as I have been dealing with some (a lot of) complicated grief. Some days it's all I can do to motivate myself out of bed in the morning.

From left: Charli, Kahlua, Bear.. all now at Rainbow Bridge.

It started July 13, 2018 with the death of my beloved dog, Kahlua. A very premature death, as he was only 5 years old. It then escalated with the realization that there were other losses I have suffered that I haven’t fully dealt with … other beloved pets, my mom’s death, my dad’s death, the death of a close friend and mentor, the moving away of friends, the estrangement of family, etc. As I said, it’s complicated … complicated grief that remained (remains?) unprocessed. Now, unprocessed … in the context of a whole food, plant based diet, the usual subject of this blog, is a good thing. I still believe unprocessed (whole) foods are definitely best for the human body. Unprocessed grief, however, has got to be the worst. … Has been the worst, at least for me, this past year or so. My therapist (yes … I am not ashamed to share that I needed to seek out professional help) thinks that blogging could be beneficial for the processing of my grief but that is not meant to be the subject of my post today.

I am actually writing about a completely different type of loss I experienced recently when I visited my local Trader Joe’s. I don’t get to Trader Joe’s very often so when I do, there are a few things I like to stock up on. The number one item being sesame soy ginger vinaigrette. I have found this to be such a versatile sauce for veggies and noodle dishes as well as a dressing for salad. After adding a few items to my cart I wandered down the salad dressing aisle … once … twice … and then a third time. What was going on here? There was no sesame soy ginger vinaigrette to be found. Seriously? I didn’t even see an empty spot on the shelf where it should have been. Then, horror of horrors, upon inquiring at the customer service desk, I was told that it had been discontinued … a month ago. What?! … wait … what???!!! How?!  How could they do this?! How can I live without sesame soy ginger vinaigrette?!!!  It is the only truly oil free dressing that I have found that I love … love … LOVE. And it was relatively inexpensive … not like some other brands that shall remain nameless.

After catching my breath, I realized that if I had (barely) endured this past year without Kahlua, I could live without sesame soy ginger vinaigrette. Or not. What if I didn’t have to live without it? What if I could just replace it? I could … I could do that. Note: While this may work for this particular situation, it will not work for dogs. I know … I thought to try and replace Kahlua (as if!) with a look alike (eerily so) doggie in need of a home a couple weeks into my grieving. Fortunately I took the advice of my therapist and did not … but I digress.

Back to the sad salad dressing situation. Thankfully, I still had an almost empty bottle of the good stuff in my fridge and, using the ingredient list from the back of the bottle, this morning I concocted my own copycat recipe which you can find below. Is it as good as the original? No. While the label provided the ingredients, it didn’t provide measurements. The color is different … lighter. The consistency is not quite the same. The taste, while yummy (in my humble opinion) is definitely not exactly the same. Will it do? Yes it will. I can live with it. Life goes on ...

Yes … life does go on. Enter Itsy Bitsy … not a Kahlua replacement by any means. He looks nothing like him and his personality is totally different. Itsy is outgoing and fierce while Kahlua was more shy and reserved. Itsy barks … a lot. Kahlua never really barked all that much, but he did howl. His howl was the sweetest puppy song I had ever heard. How my heart would fill with joy when he would throw back his head and let loose, encouraged by and emulating his daddy who taught him well. I have had to insist that my husband not teach Itsy Bitsy the same behavior for fear my heart could not take it.

So Itsy barks … and barks … and barks. It drives me crazy sometimes, but I have also grown to love him fiercely, madly, totally. I didn’t think I had it in me, after Kahlua, to feel this much love for another furry creature.  And yet … I do. And yet … again, I digress, but I am not going to apologize. It’s who I am, it’s what I’m dealing with. And, this morning, while yet still dealing with complicated grief I felt both motivation and inclination to experiment and come up with a pretty darn good salad dressing and then blog about it. A salad dressing that I know I will grow to love … scratch that … enjoy … as much as the original. The word love really shouldn’t be used in conversations about food, but that’s another post.

So, if you, like me, really, really enjoyed Trader Joe’s sesame soy ginger vinaigrette, try this version and let me know what you think. And, if you try it and make any changes to improve it or make it more like the original … please do let me know. After all … recipes are just a starting point, right?!

To your health …

Sesame Soy Ginger Vinaigrette

Ingredients
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp miso
1 clove garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp NOW organic Better Stevia extract powder 
1/8 tsp xanthan gum (optional)
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Instructions:
Place all ingredients except toasted sesame seeds in a blender and blend. I would have used fresh ginger if I had it. Not sure how much to use if you want to sub.

After blending add the toasted sesame seeds in and mix just to combine, keeping the seeds whole. Then bottle up and store in the refrigerator. I do not know how long this keeps but it will be used too fast to worry about that.

Note: I have xanthan gum listed as optional. I like how it thickens the dressing. If you prefer your dressing not thickened, or if you are opposed to using xanthan gum, simply omit it. I also use stevia. You may not want to use stevia. I won't judge you, but you may want to add more honey or other sweetener to taste. I am going to try using dates in this next time and will update the recipe is that works.