Vegan Cookies ‘n’ Cream Cupcakes

A couple years ago when I was in college, my vegan friend Debby (as in Debby’s Kale Chips) brought some cupcakes to school. Being an omnivore myself, I was a little skeptical. But who turns down a cupcake covered in fluffy icing with what appears to be an Oreo plopped on top?!

Well, luckily, not me. Because that was the most amazing cupcake I had ever had.

When our 2/3 vegetarian Cincinnati friends from The Seedy Seeds stopped by our apartment this past weekend I jumped at the opportunity to bring these cupcakes into their lives. Now I am bringing them into your life.

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Debby’s Kale Chips

Seriously, make these tonight. This method really takes the bitterness out of the kale so even if you hate kale you will really really love these kale chips.

One of my closest friends, and fellow dietitian, made these for us in October and last night I got inspired to make them for a couple other friends who were coming over for dinner. Prepping the kale might seem a little daunting but I believe it is well worth it. 

Sage Shortbread Cookies

These are my favorite cookies that I have ever made. They are savory, buttery, salty and sweet all at the same time. Because they are pretty small, you will find yourself eating one and then five and then ten until they are all gone and everyone is staring at you with daggers in their eyes.

I am not much of a dessert person unless chocolate is involved but what makes these cookies so perfect is the way they are almost not a dessert. But they obviously are.

The Official Apology Letter

Dear Blog Fans,

I’m sorry we’ve been so distant lately but we’ve been missing from the blog for the last few months for good reason: I had been studying almost every waking, non-working moment. I think Kendall was losing patience with me not being able to help with dinner or the grocery shopping but now it is all over.

I am happy to announce to you, blog fans, that this is the first post penned exclusively by Yours Truly, Registered Dietitian.

Tastes like (a whole) Chicken

While we’ve been away we’ve been cooking up some really yummy things for ourselves while learning some thrifty ways to shop and eat. To to get the most nutrition for our dollar we are buying more raw, unprocessed ingredients and learning what to do with them. It helps that we aren’t afraid to buy something when we have no idea what to do with it, especially when the deal is so good.

So we bought this chicken. 

Beef & Vegetable Stir-fry

Earlier this year Jamie Oliver hosted a show on ABC called Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution where he spent time in Huntington, West Virginia (apparently one of the unhealthiest communities in the US) and tried to get them to eat better and cook fresh, whole foods at home.

Much of the show involved Oliver trying to get schools to provide better lunches and it was eye-opening to see all of the obstacles that something as good-intentioned as that turned out to be.

When he wasn’t at the schools he was trying to get people to eat healthier at home by doing cooking demonstrations that would show how easy, fun and healthy home cooking could be. One of his go-to dishes was stir-fry. It did indeed look quite tasty and simple so we couldn’t resist trying it ourselves.

Simple Smoothie Secrets

Everyone seems to agree that Americans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. My favorite way to address the fruit issue is with a smoothie first thing in the morning.

I buy frozen fruit or freeze cut-up leftover fresh fruit before it gets a chance to go bad and store them in pre-measured portions in the freezer so that in the morning all I have to do is place the fruit in a blender with some almond milk, fruit juice or coconut milk and blend. Using frozen fruit means you don’t have to dilute the flavors down with ice cubes to get that ideal smoothie texture and it’s also an easy way to always have nutritious fruit on hand. I’ll never waste fresh fruit again! Once the bananas start to go I peel them and freeze.

Fruit is deliciously sweet on it’s own but sometimes I’ll add a little bit of honey or agave nectar if I’m craving something extra.

When Sodium and Chloride Get Together: Salt

If you grew up like me, salt was akin to a fine, white sand and it came out of a shaker that rested in the middle of the dining room table and once you became “of a certain age” you needed to keep a close eye on your intake.

Salt is known scientifically as sodium chloride, or NaCl. (Na is from the latin natrium.) Salt forms when sodium, a highly-reactive metal that ignites in water, and chloride, one part of the corrosive hydrochloric acid, get together.

Sodium and chloride are both essential in very small amounts to the life of all animals. Historically, salt has been used in a wide variety of ways, such as in the preservation of foods, the production of paper good, as an additive in cosmetics and, of course, to make food taste more delicious.

Oh, hi! Over here…

We know that our readers are super hip and technologically advanced, so we decided to get a Twitter account! Follow @GreenChalkboard where we will be sharing lots of fun, yummy, interesting food things with you. We’ll also let you know when we put new posts up, too.

See you there!

Mmm,
Mandy

From http://www.penn-olson.com, original source unknown.

Mission: Biscotti

Biscotti are twice-baked Italiany cookies. The double dose of oven time makes them less perishable than their moist relatives, the once-baked cookies. In this case dry and crunchy are desirable traits.

There are lots of variations for biscotti but I wanted to make one that featured almonds since that’s a traditional ingredient. We also just happened to have some crystallized ginger in the cupboard so when I stumbled upon a recipe that utilized both on Epicurious it seemed like a no-brainer.