Green Options

I have a sweet tooth, which if have read my other recipes you are well aware of, and my children have inherited my love for desserts. Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are a favorite in my home, but recently, I decided to experiment with oatmeal cookies. I am not a raisin fan, so I substituted chocolate chips and adapted a standard oatmeal cookie recipes to my desires. As always, organic ingredients are a must!

Tonight, my family attended a community Solstice celebration, which included a potluck feast. What to do with nothing in the kitchen but rotten bananas…Make organic banana bread with flax seeds! Nothing smells better than banana bread baking in the oven. This recipe does call for eggs, which I use only for baking and are a recent addition to my vegetarian diet. I have successfully used Egg Replacer in the past, but this recipe does turn out better with organic eggs.

I have a sweet tooth, but it is a very picky sweet tooth. I love chocolate, but I hate candy, and I am particular about my cookies. One thing I adore is chocolate chip cookies, especially a little spoonful of dough when mixing up the batter, and with vegan cookie dough, you don’t have to worry about getting sick from eating raw egg. This is another great recipe, like last Friday’s Vegan Kid-Friendly Soup, modified from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. Of course, always use organically-grown ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Sift flour with the baking powder and salt (I sometimes skip the sifting).

• 1 cup Sucanat (or use 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar)
• 1/2 cup oil (or melted butter if you aren’t vegan)
• 1/4 cup water or soymilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

In a separate bowl, stir together the Sucanat (sugar) and oil (butter). Add water (soymilk) and vanilla to this “wet” mixture and blend well. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Assembling the TartSadly, strawberry season is beginning to wane here in northern California; however, the news is not all bad as the raspberries and cherries are ripening in my garden. This delicious recipe for Organic Strawberry Almond Cream Cheese Tart came from my friend Laura. Our town hosts a good old-fashioned pie auction every spring to raise money for our community council. Laura made this tart one year, [...]