Banana Spice Pancakes in 5 Easy Steps =)

I made these for my cousins over Christmas break when we were snowed in together at my grandma's. There was an abundance of bananas and no one knew what to do with them. I'm glad that those bananas were put to use in these pancakes. ^__^ These pancakes are sugarfree! Agave nectar has a very low glycemic index. Well, they are sugarfree, except for the vanilla soymilk, I guess. Plain, unsweetened soymilk will work just as well, if you are diabetic or don't want to eat sugar. :)

Banana Spice Pancakes

1½ cups whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)

2 tsp baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon allspice

3 medium sized ripe bananas, peeled and sliced or mashed

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1¼ cups vanilla soymilk

1 to 1½ tablespoons agave nectar

some oil for the pan/griddle

Note: The measurements for the spices are approximate; I don't really remember how much I put in. I used my nose. ^_~ If you want your pancakes to be more/less spicy, change them according to your taste. ;)

1. In a bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, except for the bananas.
2. Put half of the bananas and the soymilk into a blender. Puree until smooth. Add the other wet ingredients & the rest of the bananas to the blender. Puree until smooth.
3. Heat a griddle or pan with some oil in it over medium heat.
4. Using a spoon, pour some of the pancake batter on the pan.
5. Cook until you start to see lots of tiny bubbles popping. Flip the pancake over and cook until it is browned on the bottom. You could do more than one pancake at a time, depending on the size of your pan/griddle.

I served these with sliced fruit and agave nectar or pure maple syrup (none of that high fructose corn syrup crap!). My cousins gobbled them up, and I hope you enjoy them too! <3

Whole Grain Mexican Rice

Yesterday, Anna and I were craving something Mexican-like for lunch. While Anna was at school, I improvised this Mexican rice. It was scary for me, improvising a cooking recipe without Anna! And when I got done, I was afraid that the flavor was too strong and that it would have to be fixed by Anna when she got back from school. However, when she got back from school, Anna tried my rice and she said it was perfectly fine, which is kind of a big deal for me. I have never made a new cooking recipe without Anna before. I'm more of a baker than a cook. ^_^'Anyway, here is the recipe; the measurements are approximate. Don't forget: the most important tools here are your tastebuds! At least, that's what Anna says all the time. ;P

Mexican Fried Rice

Some vegetable/canola oil

½ large red onion, diced

1 or 2 green bell peppers, diced

1 small can of tomato paste (about 6 oz.)

2 ½ to 3 cups of cooked, whole grain brown rice

Garlic Powder

Cumin

Mushroom Powder

Any other seasonings of your choice

1. Heat up a saucepan on high heat.
2. Pour some oil (about 1 tablespoon or so) into the saucepan (keep it on high heat).
3. Add the onions when the oil gets hot.
4. Once the onions start to smell good, add the green bell peppers, and add half of the tomato paste. Stir the mixture around so that it doesn’t burn.
5. Add all the rice to the mixture, and lower the heat to medium heat.
6. Put the rest of the tomato paste into the rice (put some rice into the can to get the last bit, if you know what I mean).
7. Keep mixing, and add dashes of garlic powder, cumin, mushroom powder, and any other seasonings to your taste. I would suggest chili powder.
8. Once you are done seasoning the rice, take the saucepan off the stove and transfer the rice to a rice cooker to keep it warm until you are ready to serve. Be sure that the rice cooker is set on the “keep warm” setting, not the “cook” setting.
9. Serve with a dash of pepper, a couple of scoops of guacamole and refried beans, or whatever you like! ^__^

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies! :)

Although you can't see the raisins or chocolate chips in this particular picture, these are the vegan oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies that I made with my engineering group a while back! I also made them with Anna. :) These are quite possibly the best cookies I have ever made ^__^

I decided to try to make oatmeal raisin cookies, because they are Kenny’s favorite. xD

I was debating which oatmeal raisin cookie recipe to use, as I have never made oatmeal raisin cookies before, vegan or otherwise. I came across two that looked promising. I went with a recipe from Vegweb, based on the raving reviews. I am always skeptical of recipes that don’t have substantial reviews.

I made some modifications, because I don’t trust EnerG Egg Replacer at all, haha. Everyone says it makes things crumbly and that you can taste it in your final product. No thanks :/ One of the reviewers said applesauce worked well, so I listened to her advice. Since I omitted the EnerG Egg Replacer and subbed it with applesauce, there was no need to add water or soymilk. On a whim, Hannah and I decided to throw in some chocolate chips, as well. Brian and I topped some of the cookies with pecans. Creativity wins~the cookies were a success—everyone gobbled them up. =D In my opinion, they were a bit too sweet, so next time I may add less sugar. The sweetness is probably because we used Cinnamon Apple Quaker Oatmeal. The cookies probably would have been just right had plain oatmeal/oats been used. But, everybody thought they were the perfect sweetness. Maybe I’m getting old. D: haha. But seriously, I plan to make these for a family gathering sometime, and the adults in my family don’t like super sweet treats.

Oh yeah, the recipe on VegWeb says that it makes 2 dozen, but we went with our instincts and doubled the recipe. We got a little over 2 dozen. Haha. That always happens to me, especially with cookie recipes! I always end up with half of the projected yield given by the recipe. The following measurements are for 2.5 dozen, from my experience. Don’t make the cookies too big, because they are a bit fragile (I think next time I will add tapioca starch to make them more sturdy). These do spread a little, so be sure to space them out. =)

So, here is the recipe for Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies, a modified version of the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies I found on VegWeb (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6459.0)

Be sure to check out the link to the original recipe, and look at the comments. The reviewers have lots of ideas on how to modify this recipe; it seems to be very adaptable.

Ingredients:

(use vegan versions, and try to find organic products)

• 1 cup softened (NOT MELTED) non-dairy margarine (I use Earth Balance)
• 1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a little over ½ a cup of applesauce (I used the cinnamon applesauce)
• 1 cup raisins or other dried fruit
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I always use Ghiradelli’s semisweet chocolate chips!)
• 1 ½ cup all-purpose (or whole wheat pastry, etc.) flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• about 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal (or plain rolled oats)

Equipment:

• 1 large mixing bowl
• Measuring spoons & measuring cup
• Electric mixer
• Cookie tray ;]

1. Place the margarine in a large mixing bowl and let it soften on the counter. Just leave the kitchen and do something else for ten to fifteen minutes, but don’t forget all about it, as I have done before. You can microwave it for a teeny tiny bit so that it softens faster, but I often find this method to be unreliable…I end up with completely melted margarine, not the desired result.
2. Add the sugar to the bowl. Using the mixer, cream the margarine and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla extract, applesauce, dried fruit, and chocolate chips (if using), to the bowl and mix.
4. In this order, add the following ingredients in and mix after every couple additions (so that the batter doesn’t get too overburdened): flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, oatmeal.
5. At this point, the batter should be extremely sticky and thick. If it’s dry, add some soymilk. If it is looking too soupy, add some more flour, but don’t overdo it.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Use your tablespoon to scoop the batter out onto your cookie tray. I used a nonstick one so I didn’t need to oil it. If you’re not using a nonstick pan, you may want to oil it a little bit. Kind of flatten out the scoops.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
9. Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool for at least one minute on the cookie tray. They’ll be too fragile and too hot for you to move.
10. Using a wooden spatula or something of the sort, transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool completely.

Enjoy the cookies with a glass of soymilk and a friend or two. ^__~

The cookies will be soft and chewy. Mind you, they’ll still be a bit delicate, but they seem to get better the following day (that is if they last that long =P)