Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was time for the coconut chocolate chip cookie. Been meaning to post it for a while, but I wanted to remake them again and snap a photo so you can see the end result! Feel free to make any adjustments to the recipe to suit your tastes.

Bon appetit mes petits chefs!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon egg replacer powder
2 tablespoons almond milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
1. Add all dry ingredients in one bowl and mix everything around.
2. Add 2 teaspoons of hot water to to egg replace powder, then add the rest of the wet ingredients.
3. Slowly work in wet mixture into the dry mixture until you get a crumbly sort of dough, not pasty batter.
4. Roll into balls of desired size, press with a fork and bake at 350 Farenheit for 10-15 minutes until pale golden.

The Naked Sprout Restaurant Review

Decadently delicious.

Today, I had the pleasure of eating at The Naked Sprout in Burlington, on their grand opening day. I'll start off by saying that in no way, shape or form did I get paid or bribed for this review. I was just simply in love with the food and seriously can't wait to go back.

The Naked Sprout is located at 4040 Palladium Way, on Walker's line past Dundas, in a plaza, right next to Chrysalis Yoga. The place is bigger than I expected and pretty cozy in general. I noticed the countertop walls are made of recycled corkboard (or what it looks like), as is the little clipboard that your bill comes on. They also sell packaged fancy teas and drinks, but no coffee. The staff were super friendly and checked up on us often. There was also live music today, part of the reason why I came besides a damn good excuse to try new vegan foods and go to Rattlesnake point after.

The order for the 2 people: Sushi, Noodle Tang, Warrior Bowl, Vanilla Cheesecake, Coffee in a French Press

Sushi (raw):  Parsnip rice, cucumber, red pepper, mushroom, carrots, hemp wasabi. What a creative use of ingredients and a tasty combo. I loved the hemp wasabi sauce, it was so subtle but amazing. My only repercussion is that no chopsticks were provided so this is the first time ever that I ate sushi using my hands/fork.

Noodle Tang (raw): Zucchini and kelp noodle. red cabbage, red pepper, broccoli, carrots, almond tamirand sauce. Cold saucy goodness. Yummy crispy vegetables tossed in a nutty sauce, with lots of sprinkled sesame seeds. A delicious sized bowl for a good price.

Warrior Bowl: Brown rice, grilled tempeh, sprouts, steamed broccoli, thai almond sauce. Warm gooey Thai-almondy sauce over yummy rice and veggies. My favourite part of this dish was definitely the sauce and tempeh.

Vanilla Cheescake: OMG. OMG. OMG. When I was a vegetarian, I didn't even like cheesecake but I am absolutely in love with dessert. Vanilla creamy goodness with what looked like a nut graham base with strawberry sauce on top. I don't know whether this was raw or not but I only have one word to describe it: absolutelyfuckingdelicious.

Coffee: just right, not acidic, not too bold or bitter but with a lot of flavour and body.It came with these fabulous double glass wall cups that keep the liquid hot but are cool to hold so you don't burn yourself. You can see them @ the Bodum website.

I can't wait to go back. That is all.

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie + Crust from scratch!

This past weekend, due to time and family constraints, or rather family having time constraints for the actual Thanksgiving, I celebrated the holiday early, along with a feast of foods.

Unfortunately things were so hecticly delicious, that most foods didn't survive for photos or writing down the ingredients to post recipes....all but one very important meal: pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is a dessert and also a meal in my opinion..but you can debate and dispute about it below in the comment box if you wish!

Please note 1 very important thing. The very first thing you should do if you are making the pumpkin puree from scratch like in this recipe is to prepare the puree. The longer the boiled pumpkin drains, the better. You can even do it overnight if you want.

Prep & Cook time: approximately 2+ hours

Servings: 1 pie

Filling Ingredients 

2 cups of boiled and drained pumpkin (approx. 1/2 of a pie pumpkin)

¼ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon molasses

2 tablespoons almond milk

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 teaspoons cornstarch

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

Directions:

1.         Start preparing the pumpkin before the dough. Slice your pie pumpkin in half, scoop out the gut (seeds and stringy bits). Depending on the size of your pumpkin, half would make approximately 2 cups that you need for this recipe. Chop into large pieces and boil it for 10 or so minutes until soft.

2.   Drain pumpkin cubes and once cool enough to handle, start taking the skin off so you are only left with the pumpkin “meat”. Place all of the pumpkin “meat”/goo in a strainer or cheese cloth and let drain over sink or in a bowl. 

 3.        When it is drained, add pumpkin meat to a blender or food processor with the molasses, vanilla, almond milk first and then all the dry ingredients. Stir around with your spatula and then pulse and blend it until it looks like a puree consistency.

Pie Crust Ingredients

1 cup flour

Pinch of salt

½ vegetable shortening

2 tablespoons of water

1 tablespoon margarine

Directions:

1.       Put the flour and salt into a bowl, and let shortening sit out from fridge for a few minutes.

2.       Cube the shortening into tiny cubes and slowly add them into the bowl while mixing in with a spatula.

3.       When all the shortening is worked into the flour, you should have a very crumbly floury texture. Add 2 tablespoons of cold water, and working it in with the spatula. You can use your hands to start forming the dough into a ball.

4.       Once the ball is formed and everything is incorporated, place in fridge for about an hour or less.

5.       After an hour, take out the dough ball. Flour a flat surface that you want to roll your dough on and flour your rolling pin. Flatten the ball into a disk and start rolling from the centre outwards in all directions until you get a large enough square to cover your pie pan. 

1.       

Pie Assembly:

1.  Take your pie pan with the crust already in it and rub margarine all over the crust and sides. 
2. Pour the filling into the pan as even as possible and gently pick up and drop the pie on a flat surface from a short height. Doing this carefully will even out the filling puree into all of the crust and get rid of air pockets.
3. Bake at 350 Farenheit for about 30-40 minutes and let cool for 30 minutes or longer to set.