Lemon Garlic Salad Dressing

Here is some simple, yummy salad dressing inspired by a wonderful salad I had on a recent trip to San Francisco. If you're ever there, you should eat here. One of the best meals ever. Anyway, I got a delicious zucchini and heirloom tomato salad with a fresh, light dressing. After my meagre attempt at recreating it, I realized I missed a key ingredient, mint! Still, this dressing I came up with tonight is yummy, vinegar free (for those who can't have it), and easy. I'll try it next time with fresh mint.

For 2 side salads, you'll need:

• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 T fresh basil
• juice of one lemon
• a couple dashes of salt
• 1 T vegan mayo or plain yogurt
• 1 T olive oil

The steps:

1. Place all ingredients in the food processor and combine. That's it!

I served this on a simple red oak green lettuce salad with orange peppers and [homemade] croutons. I think this would be good as a dressing for cole slaw or any number of vegetable salads. Enjoy!

Super Easy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, maybe I'm too opinionated about cookies. Cookies should be very simple. They don't require complex ingredients or steps. This is a recipe adapted from one I found on a blog that was so frustrating because the blogger's description was about a million pages long with roughly a thousand photos.  These are chocolate chip cookies, not beef bourguignon! So, here is my very easy, no frills, yummy vegan chocolate chip cookies recipe.

For about a dozen, or so, cookies, you'll need:

• 1/2 c oil 
• 1/2 c coconut milk
• 3 t vanilla
• 3/4 c raw sugar
• 2 c flour
• couple dashes salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/4 c cornmeal (optional, just add more flour if you prefer. Cornmeal adds a nice crunchiness)
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 3/4 c [vegan] chocolate chips

The [simple] steps

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, combine oil, coconut milk, vanilla, and sugar until smooth.
3. Add dry ingredients and combine with a spatula.
4. Spoon out onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 1 1/2" across.
5. Bake 10-13 minutes, or until just set.
6. Promptly remove from the cookie sheet in order to avoid burning bottoms. 

Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Fennel Sauce

An experiment that seems to have been successful. On the surface, this recipe seems a bit complex, but, in execution, it really goes rather smoothly. A good use for the roma tomatoes you may be getting at the market or in your CSA right about now (they aren't good for much else due to their firmness and frequent lack of flavor :( ) Anyway, here's a sauce I just made. A lot of it so that I can freeze some and use for the winter. This would make a hearty, earthy pasta sauce or may even be good in lasagna, I think.

For 6 meal-sized servings, you'll need:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• the stalks and leaves from one fennel bulb (save the bulb and make braised fennel with it), diced
• 1 c vegetable broth
• 1/4 c sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 sweet peppers, diced (I had one huge one, so just used that)
• 2 T tahini
• 10-12 roma tomatoes, diced as small as you can
• 1 T good, aged balsamic
• 3 t crushed red pepper
• salt & pepper to taste

The steps

1. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and add diced onion, fennel stalks and leaves, minced garlic, 1/8c sugar, and enough vegetable broth to cover (1/4-1/2c). Cover and simmer on medium-low for 10 minutes.
2. After 5 minutes, add the diced peppers and cover again.
3. After 10 minutes, add the tahini and stir quickly until it lightly coats the other ingredients
4. Add the remaining broth and sugar, tomatoes, balsamic, and red pepper and stir to combine.
5. Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes more. Taste every so often and add salt or pepper as needed.