Raspberries with Orange Lemon Sauce

Sitting at home nursing a minor hangover, I was watching one of my favourite shows, Chef at Home. I love Michael Smith and even though he is not a vegan chef by any means I love his style of cooking without recipes. as he put together this awesome dessert, all I could think about was making it vegan. Unfortunately (or maybe not) I did not bother to write down what the recipe was... so I am following his mantra and cooking without a recipe.

This recipe is not for the sweet tooth's of the world. It is very, very tart. However, if you like lemon and you like raspberries, you must give this a try. Sublime on a hot summer night .

If you like your desserts sweeter, I would just adjust the sauce and add some agave or maple syrup. If you like sour treats, make and serve!

Raspberries with Orange-Lemon Sauce
*Inspired by Chef at Home
Serves 2

• 1 cup of fresh raspberries (or other berry of choice)
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1/2 cup milk (I used soy, but almond would be a great choice too)
• 1/4 cup sugar (Use more if you like it sweeter or other sweetener)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• Graham Cracker crumbs (or any vegan cookie)
• 1 Tbsp Maple syrup
• Mint leaf for garnish

In a sauce pot, add the orange juice, milk, sugar, vanilla, salt and lemon zest and juice. Whisk the sauce and heat over medium low heat. Once everything is combined, add the corn starch slowly and whisk constantly until dissolved to avoid lumps. Continue to whisk until the sauce is simmering and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Wash your berries and get a martini glass or other single serving dish. Fill the dish half way with the berries and drizzle maple syrup. Cover with sauce and repeat to make a couple layers. On the top, sprinkle the cookie crumbs and drizzle again with the remaining syrup. Let chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The sauce will thicken and set. Once cool, garnish with a mint leaf and serve.

How easy is that? if it wasn't for the cooling of the sauce, this dessert would take 10 minutes to make. Next time, I am going to try and sweeten the sauce a bit and use a mixture of berries. So good and refreshing. If you can, enjoy this one outdoors.

Lemon Gem Cupcakes

First thing I shouted this morning... "I FORGOT THE VANILLA!!" How can you have successful cupcakes when you forget the vanilla? Well, crisis was averted, the cupcakes were OK. I did learn a lesson: Vanilla really does add depth to your baking, do not leave it out.  I think for any beginner cook, this is an important lesson. Leaving out vanilla in something like a cupcake, is like leaving out the salt. Sure the dish will probably taste fine and if you stay quiet, no one would know. However, after one taste, there is that feeling that something is missing and it is making the food fall a bit flat.

Well fine, lesson learned. I would love to to say that I purposely left if out so I would have something to write about, but the real reason is that I was baking in the middle of the night again and I did not lay out all the ingredients before I started... Again.

So this recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Isa is co-author of Veganomicon which I consider an important book for anyone's shelf. She really knows her shit. I find her recipes tend to have a little edge which is important. Here was my first attempt at one of Isa's cupcakes.

Lemon-Gem Cupcakes

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking power
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk (recipe calls for rice, I used walnut)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Then pour the dry into the wet and mix well until a light batter is formed.

Line a muffin tin with paper wrappers and fill each about 2/3 to 3/4 full (I had small wrappers, so i filled them as much as I could and it worked). Put them in the oven for 17 to 20 minutes. Let them cool on a rack completely and then frost them.

Lemon Frosting

• 1/4 cup earth balance butter, softened
• 1/4 soy milk
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cups of confectioners sugar (I needed a lot more)
• Not part of recipe: 1 tsp of lemon extract

Take the butter and cream it with a fork. next mix in the soy milk and the lemon juice until it is fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar and mix with an electric mixture until you get a nice icing.

So, when I put the icing together, it was way too thin. I ended up adding a lot of extra sugar and I was worried that the lemon wouldn't shine through, so I also added lemon extract. I thought the icing was pretty good. My sister said it was weird on its own, but it worked with the cupcakes. So, a win I think.

I ended up adding some coloured sugar on top of my cupcakes for a bit of colour. These were good and I think they would be even better if I had remembered the vanilla! Next time I make these I think I will try adding a blueberry (yes, just one... per cupcake) to the batter right before I bake them. I think this would make them even better and I love blueberry and lemon together. It is an amazing flavour combo.

Raspberry Lemon Loaf

Seems like suddenly it is spring. I cannot be more relieved. Since it is Alberta, I will remain pessimistic until I see leaves on trees and green grass, but I think there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

This inspired me to try out a brighter, sunny recipe and since It was midnight at the time, I figured why not get an early start on breakfast.

In Colour me Vegan there is a great recipe for raspberry lemon muffins that I just had to try. Unfortunately, I broke a very important cooking rule.. I skipped pre-prep. I made my batter, had my oven heated and ready to go and turn to grab my muffin pan and to my surprise; it is nowhere to be seen! I searched everywhere and I am sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell I was doing smashing pots and pans in the middle of the nigh. Gone, gremlins got it.

So, with my batter ready, I had to improvise and made a loaf. I should have went with my instinct on the timing and temperature, but I didn't and the the end result was classic 'oven too hot syndrome' Little dry on the outside and a little too moist on the inside. Ah well, I am the only one eating it, so it is not the end of the world. The important this is that this recipe is seriously good.

Raspberry-Lemon Loaf

• 1 small container of vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup of milk (I used sunflower)
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup of sugar (I used white granulated)
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat the over to 400F (375F if you make a loaf) Mix together the wet ingredients and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the wet into the dry ingredients and stir until it is just combined (Lumpy batter is fine. Over mixing muffin batter is bad, don't do it!).

Fold in the raspberries (Note: While making this in the middle of the night, I was sure it said two cups, so I used about a cup and a half of raspberries and then a handful of mixed berries. This may be another reason why my end result was a little too moist in the middle! Lesson learned? Only to read recipes twice. I will cook in the middle of the night forever)

Pour into a greased muffin / loaf pan. If cooking muffins, bake for 20 - 25 minutes. If cooking a loaf, this will be trickier. Start with 30 minutes, then you will have to watch it. Mine ended up taking about 50 minutes in total, but that included taking it out of the oven at 30 minutes thinking it was done, then remembering to check with the toothpick 15 minutes later, realizing a mistake was made and throwing it back in the oven.

I am amazed something edible came out of this, but obvious it was not the recipe's fault. Totally my fault this time.

I love to put brown sugar mixed with a bit of cinnamon on top of muffins, so if you are OK with extra sugar, go for it!

Makes 12 muffins or 1 loaf.

The book includes the nutritional info, so make sure to grab the book, or send me an email and I can get it to you. Red foods are rich in anthocyanins and lycopene (and plenty of other nutrients) and they have been linked to lowering the risk of cancer, aging and neurological diseases, inflammation,  diabetes and bacterial infections. If that isn't enough for your to try... how about this - it tastes awesome! Nuff said.

Other red foods:
Red pepper, Berries, Beets, Red miso, Red quinoa, chard, tomatoes, water melon, red lentils, Apples and many more.

Ways to increase red foods in your diet:

• Add apples, red pepper, tomato to salads
• Eat tomato salads
• add red lentils or tomato paste to soups and stews
• Add red berries to cereal or smoothies
• Drink red berry juices or tomato juice
• Keep apples at your desk

This is a fabulous red recipe, but could be considered a yellow one too. Really brightened up my Monday morning. The only thing to make this morning complete was to have a little pig time.

Prince Henry, chilling like a villain and looking a little pissed that I am not sharing!

One Long Cookie Night! Part Two: As Healthy as Cookies Get

Part one: Not so Healthy Cookies

So cookie night continues. It is late.. Really late and I just finished my last of the cookie recipes. I was planning on doing three types of cookies. I ended up with four. I have done enough quality checks now that I actually made kale chips when I finished! I needed some veggies to offset all the sweetness. Cookies for dinner seemed like a good idea at the time. It still is, but maybe don't have cookies for a midnight snack after.

Before the cookie hangover fully sets in, let's get on to part two of the cookie night. I labelled these as the healthy cookies. I don't know if I would go so far as to ever call cookies a health food, but in the grand scheme of cookies, these two recipes have a few more nutrient dense ingredients so you are getting more than just sugar and flour. I also used two different egg replacers again to give a comparison.

I have to say of all the egg replacers I have now tried, they all do the job as they said, but I think the chia and flax eggs are the most eggy and they both gave the best consistency for the recipes. That say, use your discretion. What ever you use will change the taste of your food. This means use a replacer that makes sense. If you don't think banana goes with your recipe, don't use banana as the replacer. Easy as that.

Cookie #3: Lemon Sugar Cookies * Chia egg replacer
Adapted from Light-Hearted Everyday Cooking
- 1/4 margarine, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 chia egg (1 tsp ground chai seeds and 2 Tbsp water)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- grated rind of 2 lemons
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Make your Chia egg, combine the chia seed and water in a small bowl. Whisk then let sit for a couple minutes. Whisk again until it forms an eggy texture.

In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar with an electric mixture. Combine the chia egg and lemon juice and beat until fluffy.

Combine the dry ingredients together (flours, lemon rind and baking soda). Pour the dry into the wet and mix until combined. Shape Tbsp sized amounts of dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Using a fork, flatten the balls and then sprinkle the remaining sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes and then let cool for another 5 and transfer to a plate. Makes 30 - 40 cookies.

Cookie #4: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies * Apple sauce egg replacer

From Cookie Madness via James Frederick (Thanks James!!)

- 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (3.25 oz)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 scant teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar (3 ½ oz)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/4 cup applesauce, drained on a paper towel
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup raisins, plumped and patted dry
- Walnuts chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. Mix both sugars, maple syrup, apple sauce, oil and vanilla together in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in the oats, followed by raisins. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Let cool for about 5-8 minutes on cookie sheets then carefully scoop up onto a wire rack. Makes 2 dozen.

So, what did I learn from all this? First, I love cookies and they make a great Sunday dinner. Second, there is a very simple formula to making a decent cookie. Cream fat with sugar, add bonding agent and wet ingredients, then mix the dry ingredients into the wet and bake. Presto - Cookies. I also learned the egg replacers are easy and only seem weird because I hadn't tried them before. You would have thought I learned my lesson about this already... I think this time I have!

What's your favourite cookie recipe?