Double Chocolate Ginger Biscotti

These crisp and crunchy cookies are zesty, and lightly sweet. They have received the coveted two thumbs up, one mouth full award from my very palate-clever roommate.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Double Chocolate Ginger Biscotti

6 tablespoons vegan margarine, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp flaxseed meal

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger

4 tbsp green tea
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2.25 cups whole wheat baking flour

1 tsp almond meal

75 g 72% dark baking chocolate, melted

80 g semisweet chocolate baking chunks, melted

80 g semisweet chocolate chips (mini ones preferred)

40 g dried edamame

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together the margarine, sugars, and soy sauce. Add in the vinegar, flaxseed, tea, ground and minced ginger, baking soda, and baking powder. Sift in the flour and almond meal, and beat until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and edamame. Drop the dough, in tablespoon drops (shaping slightly into squares if you like, onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for ~14 minutes, remove and let cool on the cookie sheet for about three minutes before moving to a drying rack. Enjoy warm. Go on, have a peace!

Easter Snacks

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you're having a beautiful holiday. This Sunday is a day about rebirth, no matter how you slice it. New life, the balance of day and night and the balance in our lives.

And yet, Easter is also a day full of processed stuff that leaves your body completely UNbalanced. Why?

My parents sent me an Easter basket this year as they do every year - my parents are ridiculously awesome.
This year, they sent me an incredibly soft, snuggly bunny and some delicious sugar free snacks. One of the things they sent that was not sugar free was a yummy, yummy chocolate from 3400 Phinney Chocolate Factory.

Here's my rule about candy - you have to recognize and be able to picture all the ingredients and you have to eat it in moderation, as a treat. This bar is dairy free, gluten free, soy free, and vegan. The ingredients include and are limited to cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, almonds, figs, fennel, and ground vanilla bean.

Now. If you're like me, you've probably hardboiled and dyed a boatload of eggs. But what do you do with all those hardboiled eggs once you're done admiring them? Personally, I love just munching on hardboiled eggs as a snack. But if you want to do something else with them, here's a few ideas:

Deviled Eggs

Avocado Eggs
1 avocado
8 hardboiled eggs, peeled
~1/8th of a small red onion
1/8 cup lemon juice, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the hardboiled eggs in half. Scoop the yolks out into either a bowl or a food processor. Lay out the remaining egg whites on a plate.

Cut your avocado in half, throw away the pit. Again, if you have the food processor, add the avocado to the yolks there. If not, add it to the yolks in the bowl. Mash it all together.

Take 1/8th of a small onion and chop it into tiny, tiny bits. You might not want to use all of the onion, it's up to your personal taste. Add as much as you like to the mashed up avocado and yolk. Now add a tiny bit of fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Sprinkle in the lemon juice - again to taste. Mix it all together.

Scoop the mash up into each of the hardboiled egg whites and serve immediately. :) That's it! It's creamy, delicious, and tastes like guacamole!

Yum yum yum!

Tea Eggs - I made these with Good Earth green tea bags, 2 cups of boiling water, and a 1/2 tbsp of low sodium soy sauce and they were delicious!

Irenic Salad
This is my go-to lunch when I'm short on time. It's filling, delicious, and healthy.
8 leaves romaine lettuce, broken into bite-sized pieces
1 hardboiled egg, sliced in half and then diced into little bits
4 grape tomatoes
2 stalks of celery, sliced in half lengthwise and then into bite sized slices across
1/8 cup edamame or fresh green peas (optional)

For dressings, you'll want to use something that isn't cream based. You won't need it. You can make a simple dressing by drizzling a tiny bit of olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar over the salad. Or you can make my personal favorite dressing.

Irenic Dressing
This dressing is easy to make and very tasty.  
1/4 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried basil
4 leaves fresh basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil
black pepper to taste

Take the olive oil and put it into a small skillet, heat it over medium high and throw the garlic into it until it browns and smells delicious, about 1-2 minutes. Pour the olive oil and garlic into a blender or food processor, then add all the other ingredients. Blend it all together. You can triple or quadruple this recipe and save the remainder in your fridge to use for the next couple days. :)

I hope you all enjoy this beautiful day! Happy Easter; have a peace.

Easy Cashew Chicken

Hello! And welcome to another episode of: What's in my Kitchen?

Cashews, in the pantry, leftover from my trail mix. Chicken, in the freezer, leftover from making chicken satay the other day (which was delish, by the by). Edamame, in the fridge, because it's an awesome snack food. Ginger and garlic, also leftover from chicken satay making.

So. What to do... Cashews. Chicken. Aha!

Cashew Chicken de ma cuisine
(Makes 4 servings)

2 tsp dark sesame oil (I always have this in my kitchen. It's a great base oil for stir-fry)
1/4 medium white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.6 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into cubes
1 cup raw cashews
~1.5 inches fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock (can use vegetable stock if you want)
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup edamame (I buy the already shelled ones from Trader Joe's. They're yummy, but have a short shelf life.)

Put 1 tsp of dark sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet. Set the stove to medium low.  Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally. Do not allow the onion to brown - just cook until soft and translucent - should take 6-8 minutes. Remove the onions into a bowl and set them to the side.

Add the second tsp of dark sesame oil and tilt it around the pan, then add the minced garlic and cook that for about 4 minutes until the garlic has softened somewhat. Don't let the garlic brown either. No browning - this is not one of my crispy dishes!

Turn up the stove to medium heat and add the chicken breast, cashews, and ginger to the skillet. Cook all together, stirring frequently to avoid browning and burning, until the outside of the chicken is all cooked.

Now, stir in the chicken broth, soy sauce, and maple syrup. [Note: the chicken broth totally softens up the chicken. You have no danger of tough chicken with that in the mix.] Next, add the onions back into the skillet and cook for another five minutes. Keep stirring, mixing up all those yummy things and making sure all the chicken gets nice and juicy.

Finally, you add in the edamame and cook it with all the rest for another 4-8 minutes. I did 4.5 minutes, but I figure different stoves cook differently, etc. The main thing is you'll want to check and make sure all the chicken is cooked through.

I served this over leftover brown rice (from chicken satay night) and then sprinkled it with a few roasted sesame seeds. It had a nice combination of sweet and savory, soft and crunchy - yum. :) And best of all, it only took about 20 minutes (not including the time it took to defrost my frozen chicken breasts). I bet it would be really good served over cooked green beans or asparagus, too.